Kalamabama,

There's two tricks to keepin' a knife sharp. The first is the quality of the steel.
The second is to keep the blade at the same angle against the stone while you are sharpening. NO EASY TASK ! The reason being , if the bevel is rounded from the body of the blade to the cutting edge , it won't stay sharp. Ceramic's are fine for a touch-up in the field , but it's the edge you spend time on when ya can't fish that makes the difference. One other thought , if you lay a bevel at 15 degrees , the knife will be VERY sharp for a short time. If your bevel is 30 to 35 degrees , it won't loose it's edge as quickly , thus you won't be sharpening as often to finish the job at hand.