Choosing the perfect multi tool as your fishing sidekick

As most fishing enthusiasts will tell you a good multi tool certainly make your life a lot easier on a fishing trip. But how do you choose one and get the biggest bang for your buck?

Let us try and dissect the question and allow you to make an informed decision.

You want good value for your money, plain and simple. You want god performance, versatility, practicality, and simplicity over all. You want to be able to do every single task that’s thrown your way, right?

You don’t want a multi tool that’s absurdly bulky because it features a bunch of fancy, but unnecessary tools.

What can a multi tool actually do?

Multi tools, as their generic name says are tools that have multiple applications in any given situation. So, whether you’re a camper, hiker, hunter or in our case an angler, you’ll get a ton of value out of these little helpers.

Let me just show you some of the things you can do with your multi tool:

• Filleting a fish on the spot is certainly nothing to sneeze at. And modern multi tools come with high-quality razor sharp blades that’ll practically do the job themselves
• Most, if not all of them include a pair of pliers that will get those hooks out even out of the biggest of Rays
• If you’re using a braid, the scissors are the right tool for you. They’ll snip it in no time
• Your hooks need to be sharpened? No problem with a good multi tool…
• You’re into changing some lures? Give the split ring tool a try
• Need to remove some scales? Your new sidekick is there for you…

These are just some of the tasks your multi tool can do for you, so we can check the versatility part. You would need a dozen or so of different dedicated tools to cover this wide of a utility range, and not to mention how heavy that alternative is.

So, versatile, handy, lightweight, jacks of all trades… That’s what multi tools are all about nowadays. And you don’t want to fumble around for tools when you land the big one do you?

Let’s get specific

I don’t like talking into many generalities. It’s all fine and dandy talking about features and qualities we want in our multi tools, but it’s just empty talk unless we dish out some specific examples. It’s all about giving an actual face to all our fancy multi tool talk.

So, let’s get down and dirty with some suggestions that I’ve prepared. They fit the bill ideally and each and every one of them merits the slot of your new fishing sidekick.

Gerber Flick Fish Multi-Plier Tool

Now this is a fishing multi tool that’s proud of its name. It comes to us from Gerber, which is a company that doesn’t need any special introduction. Suffice to say it’s a well-trusted source of knives and multi tools for the US army.

This little champ features an excellent pair of pliers with a flick-of-the-wrist deployment, which leaves your other hand free at all times for doing other important tasks. They are perfect for hooks removal. It also includes a file that’s great for sharpening them in a pinch. Flip-out scissors will cut any line any time.

It also features crimpers and a trusty saw. Bottle and can openers are a standard feature by now, and regular and serrated blade are razor sharp, as it can be expected.

It’s a great tool and very well made. The company is so sure in the quality of their product that they offer a lifetime guarantee for it. Now that’s a great deal right there.

 

Leatherman Skeletool 

Here we have a multi tool that stands out from what we can generally expect from Leatherman. It features a more aggressive look, and I for one can’t get enough of it. It symbolizes its approach to your fishing tasks, aggressive and relentless.

It’s beautifully styled and made minimalistic, so the overall weight of the tool can be reduced significantly. It’s made of stainless steel and you can just feel its power as it sits comfortably in your hand.

It features regular and needlenose pliers, wire and hard-wire cutters, screwdriver with extra bits, carabiner clip that doubles as a bottle opener, and a combo knife. The pocket clip is replaceable, the blade locks in position, and it comes with a storage case.

This multi tool is every fisherman’s dream, and I have yet to find a negative user review online.

 

Sheffield multi tool (17-in-1)

Great tool that performs just as advertised. It features 17 different tools, yet somehow manages to be pretty lightweight, considering the potential and functionality. It’s made of stainless steel of course, which means we’ll keep that pesky rust at bay. It sits very comfortably in hand and once you start using it you’ll see how well made it truly is.

Some of its features are an extremely sharp blade, a wire cutter, a dehooker, split ring tool, solid pair of pliers… It might prove to be a bit on the heavier side than your average minimalistic multi tool, but considering the utility and sheer quality of all the tools I’d say it pays dividends like you wouldn’t believe.

Besides my personal picks, you might want to try out some of the other high-quality multi tools such as Leatherman Micra, Wave, Charge or Sidekick, Victorinox Swiss knife, SOG Crosscut…

Well, I hope I’ve been of some assistance. But by all means, do a little research of your own and read some reviews before choose the best multi tool for your needs. I’ve given you some fine examples so it shouldn’t be that hard. If you are looking for other options have a look at Multi tool knifes

Happy fishing, Morry Banes