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Fish guide

Lemon sole

Microstomus kitt · Flatfish

Lemon sole
Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What fish is this?Identify a fish from a photo

A left-eyed flatfish with a deep oval body and tiny mouth, found around the British Isles on stony, mixed and sandy ground, and only rarely caught from the shore.[1]

How to recognise it

  • Oval, left-eyed flatfish, reddish to light brown with orange and yellow speckles and a white underside.[1]
  • Deep body with a small head and a very small mouth; the skin is slimy and the lateral line is almost straight, with a slight curve over the pectoral fin.[2]

When and where

Found over
stony ground, mixed ground, sand[1]
Baits
ragworm, lugworm, harbour ragworm[1]

Sources

  1. British Sea Fishing: Lemon sole
  2. FishBase: Microstomus kitt

These notes are a draft: we gathered them from the sources above and are still checking them. We don't work out best times for this fish yet. The size rules come from the same checked byelaws as every other fish.

Size and bag limit

Minimum size
Sizes vary along the coast. Pick your spot to see the rule there.
Bag limit
None set for the whole UK.
Minimum sizes around the UK
AreaMinimum size
Kent & Essex IFCANone
Sussex IFCA25 cm
Southern IFCA25 cm
Devon & Severn IFCANone
Cornwall IFCA25 cm
Isles of Scilly IFCANot checked yet
North Western IFCA25 cm
North Eastern IFCANot checked yet
Northumberland IFCANot checked yet
Eastern IFCANone
Welsh GovernmentNot checked yet
Scottish GovernmentNot checked yet
DAERA (Northern Ireland)Not checked yet