# Electric Fillet Knife and Panfish



## icefishermanmark (Mar 2, 2005)

Guys, I'm thinking of getting an electric fillet knife for cleaning my gills and perch. Do they work well on the small fish, or are they only for bigger fish? I'm thinking of getting the Mr Twister. If you have any suggestions feel free to post them.


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## tommy-n (Jan 9, 2004)

The blades are kinda wide on the mister twister for doing panfish, the rapala or angler have a different blade for making the turn after hitting the backbone


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## ggrybas (Mar 11, 2005)

I use an electric every time for perch. Not sure how small of fish they are good for, but for perch 8" and bigger it really shortens the task!


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## RyGuy525 (Mar 17, 2005)

i use a mister twister for everything from bluegill to steelhead. It will take you a little while to get used to it but eventually you will be able to clean 6 inch perch and those bluegill that you know you shouldn't keep but you are hungry and fishing is SLOW! Take your time the first couple times and you will never go back a a fixed blade again.


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## jacktownhooker (Apr 7, 2007)

i only got my electric knife to clean the hundreds of walleye that i catch....... but use it for everything now but if i have 6-8 or less panfish then i still use the rapala fillet knife


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## ih772 (Jan 28, 2003)

I have the mister twister knife, got it at a yard sale. I've cleaned many crappies, walleye and perch with it. I wouldn't go back to cleaning without it.


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## junglecat (Jan 19, 2006)

An electric filet knife is the only way to go with panfish. Once you get used to it, its faster, and does a great job. You can get those gills paper thin, no waste. I have a Mister Twister electric filet knife, have never tried any others. I would imagine a narrower knife would be even better if you can find one. 
Dave


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## brigeton (Feb 12, 2004)

I have the Rapala & it does a reallly nice job. There's 3 different ones with longer or shorter batery life. I got the middle one. It comes with 2 batteries & charger. I had a Mr Twister with a cord & the cord was kind of a pain.


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## soggybtmboys (Feb 24, 2007)

I just got the Rapala for xmas. I just had a chance to use it yesterday on gills and perch, it was great. It has a thinner blade than the Mister Twister does. Mine came with 2 blade sizes and three different plug in types. One for a 12v outlet in a vehicle, 110V plug in, and came with clips for a 12v battery. I was kinda hoping to get a cordless, but really I am never far from a power source when I clean fish. The thin blade was great for going round the ribs and keeping the fillets nice and boneless, no waste on the skin either.


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## Splitshot (Nov 30, 2000)

I have used, burned out, perhaps as many as 30 electric knife. My preference is a GE standard electric knife and always get an extra set of blades. They are more flexible than all the knives designed for cleaning fish.

I can filet even 3 inch bluegills. Any electric knife is better in my opinion than a standard filet knife except for bigger steelhead and salmon.


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## Ralph Smith (Apr 1, 2003)

I've used the mister twisters, and they work good, except for blade thickness. Not too long a go I got a Rapala cordless and that worked o.k., but the batteries ran dead too fast. I went through both batteried doing 50 perch. I think its only a 7.6 volt. If you could find a 12 or may 18v cordless, that would be the way to go. Without a cord your more portable. I did use a nice one last summer while volunteering to help clean over 100 walleye at a small local tourney, and the knife had SHARK BLADES on it. They are much thinner and flexible. Were the best blades I've used on any elec. You can get them for replacements on probobly all the brands.


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## brigeton (Feb 12, 2004)

Ralph Smith said:


> I've used the mister twisters, and they work good, except for blade thickness. Not too long a go I got a Rapala cordless and that worked o.k., but the batteries ran dead too fast. I went through both batteried doing 50 perch. I think its only a 7.6 volt. If you could find a 12 or may 18v cordless, that would be the way to go. Without a cord your more portable. I did use a nice one last summer while volunteering to help clean over 100 walleye at a small local tourney, and the knife had SHARK BLADES on it. They are much thinner and flexible. Were the best blades I've used on any elec. You can get them for replacements on probobly all the brands.


There are 3 versions of the Rapala cordless with different batteries. I got the middle one & can do 50 perch on 1 battery. The one with the longest run time is pretty pricy. Theres 2 sets of blades. longer for walleye & pike & shorter for panfish.


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## icefishermanmark (Mar 2, 2005)

I bought the Mr Twister and cleaned 20 gills with it the other. My main complaint is the cord gets in the way, but I'll find a way to work with that. It's going to take a little practice but I'll figure it out.


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## gooseboy (Jul 11, 2008)

takes a bit of practice with any of those, I recommend cordless


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## jacktownhooker (Apr 7, 2007)

Splitshot said:


> I have used, burned out, perhaps as many as 30 electric knife. My preference is a GE standard electric knife and always get an extra set of blades. They are more flexible than all the knives designed for cleaning fish.
> 
> I can filet even 3 inch bluegills. Any electric knife is better in my opinion than a standard filet knife except for bigger steelhead and salmon.


 ya- that ,,,,,,i have an american angler that i got from bargain bin at cabelas and have lasted longer than all of them - and pu from walmart the replacement blades for 8$ are real thin ! ...... but any standard knife from garage sales for 2$ are still working !


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## jlcrss (May 17, 2006)

soggybtmboys said:


> I just got the Rapala for xmas. I just had a chance to use it yesterday on gills and perch, it was great. It has a thinner blade than the Mister Twister does. Mine came with 2 blade sizes and three different plug in types. One for a 12v outlet in a vehicle, 110V plug in, and came with clips for a 12v battery. I was kinda hoping to get a cordless, but really I am never far from a power source when I clean fish. The thin blade was great for going round the ribs and keeping the fillets nice and boneless, no waste on the skin either.


I have the same one and have used it for a year and half now and have had no problems. I used it in Canada at outpost with a vexilar battery and was able to clean 60 fish in four days without loosing the charge.


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## Ralph Smith (Apr 1, 2003)

brigeton said:


> There are 3 versions of the Rapala cordless with different batteries. I got the middle one & can do 50 perch on 1 battery. The one with the longest run time is pretty pricy. Theres 2 sets of blades. longer for walleye & pike & shorter for panfish.


I got it as a gift, it was $79.99 new. Batter Just wouldn't last for cleaning perch. Maybe I got a bad one. Or maybe the perch were too big.:yikes::lol: I wish that was the problem.


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## Gutz (Mar 22, 2006)

I clean panfish with mine and it does not look like it had a blade intended for it but it works fine. I lose a little meat but maybe a bluegill's worth over a limit. The FRACTION of a the time it takes to clean them more than makes up for a LITTLE meat loss, IMO.

-G


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