MOST of us own a fishing knife or two… The most common knife, one that’s useful for fishos, is a fillet knife. Typically a fillet knife has a long slender blade with some flex. It’s usually made of stainless steel for longevity and comes with a grippy handle for safe holding.
One such knife which ticks all of the above boxes is the Victorinox Swibo fillet knife. I’ve been using Victorinox knives for years in the kitchen and while out fishing. Almost everyone owns, or should own, a Swiss Army Knife and the kitchen knives are equally fantastic and reasonably priced.
So it makes sense if you’re looking for a quality blade, at a good price, a Swibo is a great choice.
The Swibo Filleting Knife in question has a 20 cm blade with an orange handle. As mentioned above, even with slimy hands, it remains ultra grippy. The blade is long enough for most jobs and has just the right amount of flex. Straight off the shelf it’s razor sharp and easy to maintain with regular sharpening. I usually run it over a sharpening steel every couple of times I use it. Being a sharp, quality blade, it allows you to cut into intricate sections of fish and take a decent fillet without much waste. Plus, sharp knives are much safer.
Swibo also recently upgraded its sheath. The new sheath is made of sturdy plastic which holds the blade safely in your bag or tackle box and features a belt attachment.
While the filleting knife does most jobs, often I’m looking for a more rigid blade. A blade with less flex will give you more control and help fillet and clean bonier or larger fish. Swibo’s boning knife is a great solution. I used one of these for years as my primary fillet knife and it did a fantastic job. I recently got another with the new sheath and the combination of boning and fillet knife does almost every job. The 16cm boning knife is more like you’d see your butcher using. It’s a perfect solution for processing meat and equally at home on fish.
The boning knife features the same orange grippy handle and stainless steel blade in a slightly shorter, more stout profile.
Do yourself a favour if you’re serious about filleting fish, check out the range of Swibo filleting and boning knives.
For more information: victorinox.com.au
