Smorgasbord of powered fillet knives by Brad Wiegmann

You have 3 legal limits of 37 crappie totaling 111 in Oklahoma. Besides smiling like a Cheshire cat at a fish market what type of fillet knife are you going to use to clean them? Anglers have a wide selection of powered fillet knives to pick including electric, cordless and heavy duty lithium to choose from.


Powered fillet knives have continued to change with advancements in technology making them better than ever before. Prices for powered fillet knives depend on if they are electric 110 volt power cord to rechargeable batteries to heavy duty lithium batteries with an extended life cycle. Each one has their own advantages and disadvantages.



The biggest advantage of using a powered fillet knife is how fast and the number of crappie you can fillet. Nevertheless there are drawbacks including no power source for an electric plug-in model or you forgot to charge the batteries. Although with the new lithium batteries it rarely happens since they are long lasting and can be recharged quickly.


Electric fillet knives that are powered by a 110 volt plug in style are normally the most affordable; however, needing a power source can be an issue as it’s not always available. Most offer adapters that can be connected to battery post or plug into a boat or auto lighter outlet as a power source. These are a good choice for anglers on a budget and not cleaning large numbers of crappie every day.


Next would be the heavy duty electric fillet knife. Just like any electric fillet knife the heavy duty electric fillet knife requires a power source, however, heavy duty electric fillet knives are typically more powerful and durable than electric fillet knives.


Heavy duty electric fillet knives normally have three times the power and up to twice the blade speed of a standard fillet knife. This speed and power allows it to cut through backbones and rib bones of small to large fish like crappie or walleyes easily. Some even have advanced air flow that keeps the motor cooler and smoother while providing a solid grip to prevent fatigue.


If you don’t have a source of electric or want to deal with electric plug-ins, battery power is the obvious choice. Again anglers have an option when it comes to what type of battery to power their fillet knife that’s normally removable for recharging. Heavy duty rechargeable batteries have ample power to clean a mess of fish, however, the lithium power batteries are longer lasting with faster charging time.




Of course the top-of-the-line is a heavy duty lithium fillet knife. I have the Rapala R12 Heavy Duty Lithium Fillet Knife Combo. This is not my first electric fillet knife, but I will say the electric powered one I had before this, failed miserably. It was missing the speed and torque the Rapala R12 had. Plus with limits of crappie to clean having the power and conveniences of rechargeable batteries was a good choice.


There are no standards for any type of electric fillet knives especially lithium powered. Since I have experience with the Rapala R12 will use it as an example. The Rapala 12 has twice the speed and three times the torque of the cordless fillet knives. It comes with two R12 2 Ah lithium ION batteries that provide 80 minutes of continuous run time on each battery. An on board LED power gauge can easily be seen for monitoring battery power plus it has a LED light for filleting in low light conditions.




It’s important to note that electric powered fillet knives normally come with one or two sets of reciprocating blades. Depending on the knife it maybe 6- or 7-1/2-inch in length, however, the manufacture decides on what to put with each fillet knife.


By far having an electric fillet knife is the easiest way to cleaning crappie especially when you are catching limits. It’s always a good problem when you have a mess of crappie to clean.