About a yr and a half in the past I wanted a bigger fillet or breaker knife for the sushi place I work at to interrupt down bluefin tuna and different fish. It wanted to be a protracted knife with a great quantity of spine and never a lot flex. I might have gone with a big Deba knife, however with how a lot they’ve gone up in worth together with the upkeep and care wanted with Japanese knives I made a decision to search for one thing else. I’ve at all times seen BUBBA promoting round and different fishermen use them as effectively on the pier and boats so thought why not. I obtained a few large BUBBA blades, a 9-inch Stiff Fillet Knife, and a 12-inch Flex Fillet Knife. But at the moment I’ll solely be reviewing the 9-inch Stiff Fillet Knife.
The packaging of the stiff fillet knife was alright for a sub $50 knife. It got here with some paperwork, decals, and stickers. The knife got here in sharp and with a nylon webbing sheath. First dealing with the knife, you’ll discover the deal with has nice grip and texturing. The titanium nitride coating on the blade may be very slick and can defend the metal from corrosion in the long term. The blade has a hole grind close to a few 1/2 inch up from the sting after which a secondary bevel for the sting. This fashion of grind for the blade will make for a really inflexible blade. Price-wise these knives are a bit larger than different choices out there, however you do get extra options within the deal with and blade coatings. I obtained the Stiff fillet knife from Amazon again in April of 2021 and paid about $49. I do need to say the present MSRP for the knives is $69.99 however they nonetheless promote on Amazon for $61 now.
After utilizing the knife for over a yr I’ve to say I prefer it, the grip has held up effectively over time and even when my gloves have been coated in grouper slime or tuna fats, they stayed grippy and didn’t twist or slip in my palms. The titanium nitride coating has additionally held up effectively, even with being scrubbed with abrasive Scotch Brite pads usually when cleaned. The metal itself holds up effectively and doesn’t boring to shortly. Even when going by way of bones I haven’t had many points. I’ve solely rounded the sting a few instances prior to now yr. Both of them have been my fault for simply making an attempt to cut a tuna spine like I used to be utilizing a cleaver or machete.
To check simply how effectively the knife saved its edge I did go for so long as I might with out sharpening or touching up the sting. I used to be capable of comfortably use it for about three weeks of onerous use, breaking down a number of large tuna and a bunch of grouper and yellowtail. I’ll say the knife does take extra effort than different knives to get actually sharp, as soon as the sting actually will get worn. Even utilizing some nicer ceramic stones going from boring to razor sharp is an concerned course of, that may take an honest period of time. So for lots of people, this can be a large turn-off, however should you really feel assured in your sharpening expertise or don’t thoughts spending time sharpening, this is able to be a non-issue. I did discover so long as I saved doing common touch-ups with the next grit ending stone possibly as soon as every week the sting would keep sharp with little effort. The stiffness of the blade was nice for placing in a variety of power to push by way of bones and scales with none flexing or twisting.
The BUBBA Stiff Flex fillet knife labored nice for lining out tuna. I might power by way of the thick scales and boney plates across the dorsal fin with out a lot situation. The pin bones and ribs of the tuna didn’t trigger points both, by utilizing my different hand behind the blade I might simply push the knife by way of the bones. I might use it to interrupt down large fish like bluefin tunas and cobia, but it surely nonetheless might be used for filleting out smaller snapper and speckled sea trout. Even being a big stiff blade the good curve on the tip made straightforward work of filleting out these smaller species. I’ll say although, this isn’t a great skinning knife although. But actually it is best to have a factor “fillet” knife for caring for skinning in any case.
Overall I really feel the BUBBA 9-inch Stiff Fillet Knife is an effective selection should you’re needing a great high quality breaker knife and are snug round a whetstone. They are tremendous solidly constructed even when abused, the coatings maintain up effectively over time in tough circumstances, and the no-slip grip has held up effectively with minimal yellowing or tackiness from deterioration. A yr and a half and I’m nonetheless proud of this knife and see much more time with it until it goes over the aspect of the boat as lots of my earlier knives have. And even when it does go into the drink, I might greater than probably go purchase one other one.
