I rarely check my Akismet spam folder, just like I don’t check my Gmail spam folder. I only venture into the spammy zone when feeling bored. Probably placed too much trust in those filters.
Over the week, I have recovered about 5-6 legit comments, out of 200+ spams. So do check often as you do not want your commentors feeling puzzled and discouraged. I just hope not too many genuine comments were deleted in the past as Akismet clears the list automatically after 15 days. This shall be a daily routine for me.. that is until I slack again 
Some spam management tools to make your life easier:
1) Wordpress Plugin – SpamViewer
2) Greasemonkey Script – Akismet Auntie Spam
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I’ve been finding Spam Karma to be quite effective as an alternative to Akismet. The out of the box settings work quite well and allow further tweaking according to your tolerance for various factors and activities. I’d recommend taking a look at it.
I was overwhelmed by its mind boggling options and chose Akismet+Bad Behavior instead