Tools are as essential to fishing as rods, reels, and line.
If you've chipped your teeth biting through line, struggled to crimp split shot by biting down on it, or cursed for minutes as you tried to free a deep hook with your finger tips, you know exactly what I mean.
And while fishing pliers, knives, and hemostats are popular on the water for a reason, it's worth considering a multi-tool in their place.
Why?
A great multitool combines a blade, pliers, and other useful tools into a small, portable package you'll be willing to carry in your tackle bag, and trust me, you'll use it a lot more than you expect.
There are legions of multitools on the market; few of them make the grade.
But as we worked our way through the best of them, we've singled-out some of our favorites:
Weight: 6.8 oz.
Length: 3.8 inches (closed)
Leatherman's multitools are among the most popular out there, and the reason is simple: they're well-designed and well-executed.
Plenty of multitools have a dozen or more tools packed into a beefy metal body; few have pliers that you'd be happy to use or blades that cut well and hold a reasonable edge.
Leatherman constructs the frame and tools on the Wingman from 420HC stainless steel. And while 420HC isn't anything to write home about in terms of absolute performance - compare it to cutlery steels like M390, s30V, CPM154, or even the old, reliable 440C - it has two properties that matter in a working tool.
First, it's very corrosion resistant. 420HC is going to shrug-off dampness, sweat, rain, splashes, and even fish blood, scales, and guts. Yeah, I've had my Wingman pick up a bit of orange discoloration if I haven't cleaned and oiled it with a water displacer like WD-40, but I've never witnessed honest-to-God rust, and certainly never any corrosion to be concerned about.
That matters for a tool that's going to see hard, dirty use.
And secondly, 420HC holds a respectable edge, with the advantage that it's very easy to resharpen with pretty much any system: pull-through sharpeners, ceramic rods, or even simple Arkansas stones. The blade on the Wingman will come sharp from the factory, but you'll need to keep it that way, and 420HC was a nod from Leatherman in the direction of easy sharpenability, even when hardened to the high end of 55-59 HRC.
That blade cuts tough leader and heavy braid easily when sharp, and I find it vastly superior to carrying a dedicated line-cutting tool like fishing shears.
The blade is a full 2.6 inches, sporting serrations on the lower half that cut tough nylon, paracord, and other common materials easily, as well as a plain edge toward the tip for more precise work. You'll also find a pair of spring-loaded scissors that are perfect when a knife isn't, and perhaps most usefully, a spring-loaded plier that can pinch split shot, retrieve a swallowed hook, or smash a split ring into a tight circle again.
Yeah, there are lots of other tools: screwdrivers, files, a can opener, etc., and these will probably see some use, but the blade, scissors, and pliers are the main event on the Wingman, and my most-used tools on the water by far.
At 3.8 inches, the Wingman is compact - but at 6.8 ounces, it's not very pocket friendly. It comes with a removable pocket clip that I dumped immediately.
I either carry the Wingman on my belt in an old Buck sheath or I drop it in pocket of my tackle bag, where it's ready when I need it.
As its name suggests, the Wingman has your six on the water, and it's got you covered when you need a reliable, ready tool.
Pros
Cons
Bass Pro
| Amazon | Leatherman
Weight: 5 oz.
Length: 4 inches (closed)
As capable as the Wingman is, the engineers at Leatherman realized that it's a bit bulky and way too heavy for comfortable pocket carry.
The Skeletool is an attempt to shed weight and bulk while keeping the tools you really need close to hand.
Just like the Wingman, the Skeletool is constructed from 420HC stainless steel hardened to a respectable 55-59 HRC. Blood, guts, sweat, and water aren't going to provide much of a challenge to this steel's chromium content, and you can mostly forget about the Skeletool between uses.
Its 2.6-inch blade, like the Wingman, comes with a thumbhole that allows one-handed opening, and it features a half-serrated, half-plain-edge blade that makes short work of baitfish, tough braid, and anything else that gets in its way.
An added feature that matters to me is the carabiner at the butt end, allowing me to use a lanyard to prevent my Skeletool from visiting the bottom.
The pliers are OK for general use - but not as fine as those on the Wingman, especially toward the tip. That made it more difficult for me to reach into the mouth of trout and bass for my hooks and flies, and I would have preferred hemostats or true needle-nose pliers for such tight work. They're also not spring loaded, which makes using them a chore.
The other tools are sometimes useful, but on the water, it's almost always knife and pliers.
The Skeletool was clearly designed to shed some of the weight of the Wingman, and it does achieve a substantial reduction.
And while your experience may not mirror my own, I still found that 5 ounces of multitool was far too much for my pocket, even with the included detachable clip.
And given the choice between the Wingman and the Skeletool for carrying in my tackle bag, the clear winner is the Wingman.
Pros
Cons
Weight: 8 oz.
Length: 4.9 inches
I own and carry one of Gerber's original multi-pliers, and the MP600 Basic is essentially just a modernized variant of this now decades-old multitool.
Gerber won't report which steel the MP600 Basic uses in its construction, noting only that it's "stainless."
Given my use, I think it's 420-series (probably 420A or its equivalent). I say this for several reasons: it is pretty darn corrosion resistant and very easy to sharpen, but it doesn't hold a great edge for very long.
That's not really a problem at all in the real world, and whatever grade of stainless Gerber uses, the fully-serrated blade simply eats tough nylon webbing, rope, paracord, and other common outdoor materials for lunch. The sheepsfoot blade is plain-edged for precise cutting, and a few passes on my Spyderco ceramic rods get it screaming sharp.
The pliers aren't very fine, and I absolutely reach for hemostats instead when I need to reach down the throat of a fish. They're also not spring loaded, making them awkward to use one handed.
At 4.9 inches and a heft 8 ounces, this isn't a tool for pocket carry, but mine has been riding in my tacklebag for years, and is no worse for the wear at all.
One touch I like on the water is a foldable lanyard ring that helps me keep my tools from taking a long, quick ride to the bottom.
Pros
Cons
Weight: 3.5 oz.
Length: 3.6 inches
On the water, there are lots of use for pliers, as you already know. But multitools built around a good, spring-loaded pair of teeth get heavy fast, and that added bulk makes them unfriendly in the pocket.
If you're looking for a pocketable multi-tool and can skip the pliers - maybe because you already carry some good needlenoses fishing - the Victorinox Fisherman is a very good option to consider.
Long legendary for their pocket tools, Victorinox is rightly famous for their quality, precision construction, and surprisingly useful tools.
The Fisherman's tools are manufactured from .4110, also called X55CrMo14, a very stainless Martensitic alloy that is extremely easy to sharpen to a hair-whittling edge. It won't stay that sharp for very long, but in my experience, long enough for daily use on the water, with just a few seconds on a ceramic rod bringing it right back to shaving.
Two blades, a long and a short, come on the Fisherman, and I've used both for different tasks. They're both plain-edged, and neither locks, but both cut well.
The other two tools I use a lot are the spring-loaded scissors and the scaler/de-gorger.
The scissors won't cleanly cut heavy braid, but they're perfect for opening plastic packaging and other simple tasks that two filthy blades shouldn't touch. The scaler-de-gorger works well in both roles, but certainly is more useful for removing deep hooks than actually scaling larger fish.
At just 3.5 ounces and 3.6 inches, the Victorinox Fisherman is absolutely pocketable, and while it's missing the great pliers of the Leatherman Wingman, having it right there in your pocket makes it far handier than you'd think.
There are only two things I don't like about this knife/multi-tool.
First, the slick plastic handles feel like greased glass when your hands are bloody or covered in fish slime.
And second, once your hands are truly grimy, reaching into your pocket to retrieve the Fisherman is going to get your shorts filthy.
Pros
Cons
There's no "one size fits all" multi-tool for fishing, and depending on the tradeoffs that make you comfortable - ore leave you flat - one or more of the products on our shortlist might be the perfect fit for your needs.
You'll notice right away that our shortlist features just three manufacturers: Leatherman, Gerber, and Victorinox.
What gives?
These three companies, more than any others, have decades of experience designing and building multitools. They also have the machining expertise and quality control to ensure that the tool you buy serves you for life.
Sure, there are other options out there, but to my mind, these are the big 3.
I've carried knives and multitools most of my adult life, and let me tell you two simple truths I've learned over the years.
Much more than 3 ounces or 4 inches is just too much in your pocket, clip or not. And while I love the full-function of my multitools, they don't get carried on my belt or in my pocket. Instead, they're relegated to my tackle bag.
I love the Leatherman Wingman, but dropping it into your front pocket feels like you've decided to EDC a steel ingot. By contrast, slipping the Victorinox Fisherman into my shorts is unnoticeable.
Think carefully about which tools you need - and bring - out on the water, and weigh the pros and cons of having a tool immediately accessible versus needing to reach into your bag to get it.
"Stainless" steel really isn't stainless, but it is far more corrosion resistant than simple carbon steel like 1095.
Metallurgy experts explain that "Like all other kinds of steel, stainless steel is made primarily from iron and carbon in a two-step process. What makes stainless steel different is the addition of chromium (Cr) and other alloying elements such as nickel (Ni) to create a corrosion-resistant product." And that added chromium and/or nickel makes steel alloy resist corrosion, but doesn't render it "unrustable."
The tools on our shortlist today are made either from a 400-series stainless (420A in the Gerber and 420HC in the Leathermen) or .4110 (Victorinox).
These steels shrug-off rust and stains the way a good rain jacket sheds water. You'll notice that 420 and 420HC rate extremely well when compared with other cutlery steels in terms of their resistance to corrosion.
They're also easy to sharpen, relatively tough, and hold an edge for long enough to be useful.
Perhaps the most-used tool on my multitools is the pliers.
I use pliers for nearly everything on the water: crimping split shot, retrieving hooks, closing split rings, mashing hooks back into shape, cutting a hanging barb off a treble - you get the idea.
But - and this is a big but - building a multitool around a great pair of pliers means that it's going to be big and bulky, all but guaranteed.
If that's a trade off that makes sense to you - and it's an essential for many anglers - don't skip the pliers!
If you opt for a multitool with pliers, it makes sense to select one with a long, thin, needlenose design - basically the exact opposite of my Gerber.
If you've tried cutting braid with scissors or nail clippers, you'll already know that's not a great idea.
The Dyneema or Spectra fibers used to weave braided line are supremely tough to cut directly, and anything but a truly sharp edge is going to fail miserably.
Just take a look at these images of my attempts with sharp scissors versus the well-sued blade on my Gerber multitool:
I can't tell you which multitool is the best fit for your needs, but I can recommend that you take a close look at the Leatherman Wingman, the Gerber MP600, and the Victorinox Fisherman.
One or more of the three is going to work well for you, offering tools you'll reach for every time you go fishing.
As always, we'd love to hear your questions and comments, so please drop us a line below!
