K-BAR!

Now this is my preferred sheath knife. It's a Navy KA-BAR. It is the modern equivalent of my grandfather's old version (now lost to me, I fear). This is the third one of these I've owned, and has yet to see a field deployment (I just got it a few weeks ago). My first well-worn KA-BAR had an untimely rendezvous with the bottom of the Delaware Bay back around 1995. Its replacement resided in my old olive-drab field bag, which I inadvertently left on the ground at a site around 1998. When I recalled that I left my bag behind, I returned - within 15 minutes, the bag, the knife, clipboard, pencils, and other sundries (bug spray, poncho, gum, etc.) were all gone. I hope the thief falls on the KA-BAR point up.

The KA-BAR is a great field knife - quick to draw when working around nets, line, and other potentially deadly fishing gear, light enough to wear all day (I wear it sailor style, in the back near the small of my back so that it can be reached with either hand), well balanced, sharp, and the leather grips don't get all slippy even when your hands are slimy from fish.

Many people don't understand the utility of a large, sharp sheath knife on a work boat. I used to require all of my crew to have one while on board, and I used to have dollar store steak knifes all over the place in case of an accident. Before you scoff, recognize that I learned this lesson the hard way while bottom trawling Shinnecock Bay in 1991. We were just beginning to shoot a 16' trawl off the back of a pontoon boat, when the net snagged on the quick-lace of my hiking boots (lesson 2 - never, ever wear boots with quick-lace eyelets on a work/research boat). In a blink, I was on deck and being dragged toward the stern along with the net - through jellyfish, fish slime, and algae. A readily accessible knife would have put an end to this ten seconds pf panic - as it was (an by sheer luck), the quick-lace eyelet bent, releasing me just before going overboard with the net.

So to those of you who think carrying a so-called "Rambo" knife in the field is overkill, think again.