Rapala Folding Fish Pro Fillet 5″ Knife Review

I had just flown home from a two-week trip and noticed that I’d received some Rapala knives to test. I had a backpacking trip that I was going on four days later and thought that the Rapala 5” Folding Fish Pro Fillet knife would be an awesome knife to carry for two reasons:

1. It is a folding fillet knife so it would be compact.
2. It is lightweight.

Literally, a few days before I was to head out on the backpacking trip, I got an invitation to go to Eastern Idaho to visit the River Retreat Lodge and fish with them, which turned out to be an awesome trip. The first day, we were going to hike into the backcountry and flyfish. The second day, we were going to drift the South Fork of the Snake River in a drift boat. Beautiful country. I fished with the owner, John Douville, for two days and his buddy Charly for one day. For a fun trip, you ought to check them out.

Live Inventory Price Checker

	Rapala Folding Fish Pro Fillet Knife 5"	MidwayUSA	$ 25.99
	Rapala Superflex Fish 'N Fillet Knife 6" Clip Point Stainless Steel Blade Baked Birch Handle	MidwayUSA	$ 27.99
	Rapala Pro Fillet Board with Clamp	MidwayUSA	$ 27.99
	Outdoor Edge Fish & Bone Folding Fillet Knife 5" Fillet 440A Stainless Blade Zytel Handle Black/Green	MidwayUSA	$ 18.99

I thought this trip might just turn out to be a good trip to test out the Rapala 5” Folding Fish Pro Fillet knife. Most of our fishing was catch & release. The cool deal was, that most of the fish that we caught were beautiful cutthroats. But on the third day there, I caught quite a few whitefish while drifting, so I thought I’d keep a couple to use to test out the knife. They were some nice-sized whitefish. Turned out to be a good decision. The fillets were 10” long”.

I filleted the whitefish and left the skins on so I could smoke the fillets on a cedar plank. I made a marinade of water, salt, brown sugar, white sugar, and a pinch of ginger. I marinated the fillets in this brine for 24 hours and then smoked them on my Camp Chef pellet grill. Five minutes before I pulled them off, I drizzled honey on top of them. They were good, and the leftovers we used to make fish tacos.

SO HOW DID THE KNIFE FUNCTION?

The first MUST on any knife review is, did it come from the factory sharp? Yes, it did. While removing the fillets, it sliced through the bones like they were hot butter. It has a good point for any stabbing jobs. The blade is pretty narrow, only 5/8 inches wide. That’s not a good or bad thing, just narrower than many blades. The flexibility of the blade is perfect by my standards for a fish fillet knife. It is flexible but not a noodle. I don’t like super flexible knives because you have no control over them. So, in a nutshell, the Rapala 5” Folding Fish Pro Fillet knife worked great for me.

Due to a few features, the Rapala 5” Folding Fish Pro Fillet knife allows for a firm grip while in use.

• The finger guard, while not super pronounced, works great. And it also has a finger groove for your middle finger.
• There are thumb grooves on the top of the handle (On the end of the liner lock). I wish the thumb grooves extended to the end of the handle and ½-inch out onto the blade which would further stabilize your grip when you choke down further on the blade.
• There is some textured design on the side of the handle which helps further stabilize your grip.

There is a thumbnail groove in the spine of the blade to open the blade. Of course, due to having a 5-inch blade the handle is a little longer than most folders, it is 6 ¼-inches long. So even if you have a gorilla-sized hand, it should fit you comfortably. But if you have a normal-sized hand, don’t panic, it fits my hand fine.

It uses a back-locking system to lock the blade open. And if you favor lanyards, you’re in luck. It has a hole to install a lanyard.

I will be using this knife for my backcountry fishing trips. And I think it’d even work to bone out my big game when I shoot something way back in the mountains. The MSRP on the Rapala 5” Folding Fish Pro Fillet knife is $26.49, and as is usual, we will close with the company specs.

Folds for convenience with easy-release lock-back design. Perfect size for a large variety of cutting tasks. Perfect balance, comfortable grip, super sharp cutting edge. Made from hand-ground Japanese steel with a progressive taped flexible blade for optimum control. The ergonomic handle fits your hand comfortably with extended protection from a safety guard. A highly polished blade easily cuts through bone structure and tough skin.

About Tom Claycomb

Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoor writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net, and numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal, you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening #ad for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”