My brother Eddy, who is the best fisherman that I know, had been looking for an 8-inch serrated knife to clean his saltwater fish. While working the big iCAST Show in Orlando in July, I stopped by the Mercer booth. After seeing that they had an 8-inch serrated knife I met with Shane Conrad and Lisa DeMartino in July at the iCAST Show.
Mercer Tiger Edge Slicer 8-inch Serrated Knife
Live Inventory Price Checker
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Mercer Sport Tiger Edge Slicer 8 inch Fixed Blade Knife - Orange - Orange | Sportsman's Warehouse | $ 24.99 |
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Mercer Sport BPX Granton Edge Butcher 8 inch Fixed Blade Knife - Black - Black | Sportsman's Warehouse | $ 42.99 |
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I soon had the Mercer Tiger Edge Slicer in hand and ready to test. Since Eddy is the saltwater expert, I’ll let him tell the story.
EDDY SPEAKING
For those of you who are unfamiliar with why Louisiana is nicknamed, Sportsman Paradise, you owe it to yourself to experience the almost unbelievable Mississippi Delta and lands south of I-10. Starting in the west from the giant Calcasieu Lake Speckled Trout to the famous Chandeleur Islands 35 miles south of Gulfport, Mississippi, redfish, trout, and a virtual smorgasbord of fish and birds are plentiful and available to fish and hunt. You can travel from New Orleans south almost a hundred miles along the giant Mississippi River and fish the east or west sides.
Hurricanes keep development in check, and the ecological environment is second to none. I have had years when I had to take both food and cooking gear as the latest storm had rolled through, killing the commercial businesses.
I love to go offshore and chase blackfin and yellowfin tuna out of Venice, Grand Isle, or even Cocodrie. Each season has its own charm and attraction. Starting in late winter to early spring, big tuna are caught relatively close to shore. Wahoo seems to show up in numbers in early January and stick around until March. Rip tides and maui maui can usually be found in mid and late spring, and I have had some crazy good trips then.
Summer comes, and the high pressure and heat set in with calm seas and good tuna bite. Fall brings the gulf stream closer to shore, and rigs begin to hold tuna that wouldn’t without the great clear water. Fall shrimp trawlers can see some action with big yellowfin as close to hand feeding as you will see.
My annual fall trip I schedule around the fall redfish run. Redfish spend one to five years in the bays and estuaries and then most of their lives offshore. In the fall, the big female breeders can come in hoards close to shore, and if you are lucky and your timing is right, it is a sight to behold. I have had trips with friends and family that you could not pay any outfitter to insure—just staggering and incredible fishing experiences. Giant Jack Crevalles are often mixed in, and they will wear you out!
I am just back from my annual trip this year and it was a great one. I almost always book two to three days inshore and one offshore. Our offshore trip was tough, but we were able to boat a few blackfin and one decent yellowfin. The inshore trips were once in a lifetime, but most have never and will never see what we experienced—schools of redfish hundreds of yards wide and thousands of large redfish. We boated and released fish after fish some weighing over 30 pounds and 40 plus inches. Just staggering.
A flock of Frigate Birds was hovering over the school, marking the way. We stayed on them for over three hours and traversed several miles as they ran along the beach. We planned on seeking keeper redfish, 16-27 inches, and knew where to go. Lo and behold, the tide was ripping, and the area was crowded with bull redfish and big Jacks right up on the beach. I played with them for an hour or so, casting topwaters and silver spoons until I was tired of it.
We moved several miles and caught a nice box of trout around old structures in the bay. This year’s fall trip with Sportsman’s Paradise guide service was another great experience and will wear well with myself and my two friends who accompanied me.
On this trip, Mercer Sport was kind enough to ship me a couple of Mercer Tiger Edge Slicers to use. I carried both on my offshore trip as we commonly cut up various bait fish and take the gills and or entrails out of our game catch. Most of the guides will use a serrated blade for both a bait knife and cleaning the rather large saltwater game we catch. On this trip, we had several blackfin and a 60–65-pound yellowfin tuna to clean when we got back to shore. The next day, we fished inshore and had several redfish to dress, and the Mercer Tiger Edge Slicer did a nice job on all of them.
GRIP
For me, the handle is perfect. I like how the first part of the top of the handle is flattened, which allows me to press my thumb down on it for leverage and to lock it into my grip. Then the front finger guard and the back one for my little finger seal the deal.
On the other hand, Eddy would like it better if the handle was a little thicker. So like always, the size of your hand will determine if you favor one handle over another. So if you have a large hand, it may feel slightly small to you.
SUMMARY
As Eddy figured, an 8-inch serrated blade is the ticket on filleting the big tough saltwater fish. Redfish have thick scales and annihilate a fine, flimsy fillet blade. And the skins on a tuna are thick and tougher than a little freshwater crappie. I think this will be our go-to blade design now for saltwater fish.
I’d advise also buying the plastic sheath that Mercer offers. Not only does it help prevent you from getting cut but it also protects the edge from getting banged up if it is bouncing around your boat unsheathed. And as is usual, we will close with the specs.
TIGER EDGE SLICER SPECS
- SIZE: 8″ (20.3 CM)
- PRODUCT MATERIAL: HIGH-CARBON GERMAN STEEL
- HANDLE MATERIALS: ANTOPRENE®, POLYPROPYLENE
- CONSTRUCTION: STAMPED
- COLOR: ORANGE
- CERTIFICATION: SNSF
- BLADE ANGLE: 15°
- HRC53-54
- PACKAGINGMERCER PAK
- COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: TAIWAN
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.”
