The best value fillet knife: a long 9-inch blade, grippy handle, sheath and lifetime warranty for under $20, as long as you keep it sharp and dry.
Buy it if: Budget-minded anglers who need a long blade for salmon, striper, snapper or lake trout, and don't mind honing and drying their knife.
Skip it if: Panfish specialists, and anyone who hates sharpening or won't dry a knife after use (choose a harder, more rust-resistant steel).
The Clearwater is a simple, low-cost knife with a long blade. At 9 inches (14.25 inches overall, 3.6 oz) it has enough reach to take a fillet off a salmon, striper or snapper in one long stroke, which is where shorter budget knives struggle. Kershaw also sells a 7-inch version.
The blade is Japanese 420J2 stainless with a satin finish and a trailing point. 420J2 is chosen for corrosion resistance and easy sharpening, but it is relatively soft, so expect to hone it often. Rinse and dry it after saltwater use: some buyers report small rust spots along the edge.
The co-polymer handle (black with neon-yellow accents) stays grippy when wet. The molded ABS sheath has a belt loop and won't rot like leather.
On Amazon, buyers most often praise the value, the flexible blade, the non-slip handle and the sheath, and several use it to skin whole salmon fillets in one pass. Feedback on sharpness is mixed: some say it arrives very sharp, others that it dulls quickly or struggles with salmon skin.
Here’s where its 9-inch blade sits against typical fish sizes. See blade length by fish for more.
This review is based on the manufacturer’s specifications, the Amazon listing and patterns in verified buyer feedback, compared against the other knives we cover. We haven’t lab-tested it. Read our method.