Yes serrated knife is good but pita to sharpen . No spring assisted blades in NYS against the law.
If you have to ask, the answer is definitelyā¦ NO
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Why do you say that?
If you canāt think of a single compelling reason on your own and rely on others to decide for you then ā¦ NO.
Eleven years ago Iām thinking the OP figured it out by now. However, I think the thread was a bit mis-titled. He carried a knife, just not on the PFD and was concerned about the relative risk of entanglement that would entail needing it on him. I think it was a relevant enough question.
I see I didnāt answer the question either, preferring to show shiny things instead. Iād guess in most environments the need for a knife to extricate oneself immediately is pretty rare. Maybe entangled while lining a boat across rapids, or during a rescue or tow, tangled up in harpoon lines pinned against Moby Dick, etc? Probably more often than not, I need to immediately extricate this granola bar from its wrapper and my fingers canāt tear it open.
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Better to have one and not need it than need one and not have it. A knife can save your life.
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Exactly. And someone who asks as the OP did might not yet have the experience to envision scenarios where a knife is needed - other than for snack attacks. Itās a valid question IMO.
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All question are free and valid. Thatās how I learn. If I think a question is not valid I just blow by the 
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I have no doubt about thisā¦but it can also cause injuryā¦seen a few people hurtā¦so for me it is definitely a trade off.
think Iām going to order this to keep in my pfd, it wonāt cut everything but should work on an entangled pfd strap
Another option are these: Easier to attach, made of stainless, two cutters for some redundancy, a bit easier to grasp.
I keep one on my right PFD shoulder strap. Always ready, out of the way.
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Probably rust in short order unless SS?
I have a short strap cutter. This one looks nice and long.
I carry a knife and usually only use it for food such as those threatening PB&J sammiches or an apple.
However I also have knockoff stainless steel surgical scissors in my PFD for cutting small diameter line I encounter while paddling. I learned while scuba diving one can control the cut/break better.
I carried Sea Snips on my BCD for years. Came in handy one day when removing trapped lump fish and lobster from a gill net that broke loose and drifted close to shore.
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I use a folding SS rigging knife that Iāve owned for over 30 years.
I used it on the sailboat I had, it was on a leash in my BCD for at least 500 scuba dives, and now it lives in a PFD pocket. I think Iāve used the marlin spike far more than Iāve ever used the blade.
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Recently I started carrying a vintage Bowie in plain sight, just in case I have to fight off multiple drunken, river dorks on a sandbar.
Or to fight my way through every curve in the river where the drunks are jammed up in their pumpin seed kayaks, rentals canoes, rafts, air mattresses and intertubes. They canāt get our of their own way, much less navigate a slight bend in the riverā¦
BOB
P.S. All above are 2 of my fantasies. I actually carry a Gerber river shorty. When anybody asks about it,
I tell them so itās so I can kill a snapping turtle that grabs one of my feet (they always look down in the river), or I use it to cut off a foot that get caught under a log, or a boulder, or in fishing line.
I taught my wife to say the same thingā¦
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I have those fantasies, too, but sometimes they involve the pepper gel spray I also carry. 
Iām surprised no yachts from the marinas on the narrow channel here have gotten fed up with the inattentive, inconsiderate hoards of rec boaters and run them over.
Lots of posts here. Meā¦ I am a newbie to paddling. But for carrying a knife, thatās something I have done for about 55 years. My dad gave me my 1st one when I was about 8-9. It was needed on our place in the hills where I grew up.
Today (and for about the last 30 years) I have favored the large lock-blade Swiss Army by Victornox. ( I also carry a small diamond sharpener in my dry box too.) I canāt seem to function well in day to day life washout a knife. I have worn down and used up 5 of them.
My Swiss knife has a locking main blade, philipps screw driver, 2 straight screwdrivers, a saw, a cap-lifter, a can opener, a tooth pick and a set of tweezers and itās been more handy than I can describe. I open letters, cut string, remove splinters, screw and unscrew things all the time, cut through pelvises on game animals, skin them, quarter them, make shelters, make feather-sticks for starting fires, eat with it, and one time in a real emergency I used the blade as a flashing mirror to show my position for a 4WD ambulance to come help a kit with a broken foot. I had radio com with them through a dispatcher, but the area was very rough and I needed to get them to come to me without delay so I climbed a hill, showed them where I was and relayed direction right to the site where the kid was so they didnāt get trapped of struck in a rut trying to get to us.
I have a fixed 3" bladed knife on my PFD too. I have used in quite a few times in only a few months to cut and shape the foam I glued in my kayak, cut rope, cut webbing, cook steaks in a fire, gut some fish and pry 2 stones out of my skeg box on 2 different occasion with the back of the blade opposite of the edge.
So from the standpoint of someone with little experience in kayaking (compared to probably EVERYONE above,) but with over 1/2 a century of working in outdoor and often wilderness environments, as well as working around the shop and ranch, I canāt see a single reason I would NOT have a knife. Ever!
Do you need one?
At least as much as you need a kayak.
And maybe a lot more.
Knives are like any other tool. You donāt need any of them -----until you NEED them.
But waiting until you NEED a knife to get one, is somewhat like trying to put a seatbelt on AS YOU CRASH your car.
I would not want to wait that long.
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We have a drawer full of knives in the kitchen every time I need one.
The coolest one we have is the saber my great grandfather carried
in the War of Northern Aggression. It has a big US as part of the hand guard.
I have a ton of marlin spikes buck 315s. Most shouldered couple have serrated. Handy to have but donāt carry one on the kayak.
