Fishing Multi-tool or Pocket Knife

[MuskieBait]

I also carry a long hemostat for unhooking, along with a nail clipper for cutting line, and a hook filer for sharping hooks. That is really all that you need most of the time. Now...if you are fishing larger spinners or crankbaits for pike, muskie and salmon, they have larger hooks that are more difficult to remove with a hemostat. In that case, a strong pair of pliers with a sharp wire cutter component is a very good choice. The wire cutter is there for emergencies...in case you get hooked by one of the strong treble hooks in those large lures. It's a safety gear that you should always have with large, stout hooks. A good fillet knife is great too if you use cutbait (or if you fish braid and you can use the knife to cut the braid in case of emergency).

Other than that, most of the multi-tool functions are not that necessary as a fishing tool. You really don't need a scale remover on the plier...you can remove scale with the back of a knife. The hook disgorger is not really all that helpful. Tweezers are hardly ever used unless you get a splinter (I just push them out or dig them out with a clean, unrusted hook). You could use one of the blade on the multi-tool, but I find them too short and small to do much good most of the time. Scissors is almost not necessary if you have a fillet knife to open package and a nail clipper to cut mono and fluorocarbon line.