Useful for your next trip
Useful kit connected to this guide, chosen to keep the next step simple.
Full megrim guide
How to spot it, where it lives, how it is caught and how to cook it — the complete guide, in one easy read.
For years megrim was the fish the boats landed and somebody else got to eat. Most of the catch went straight onto lorries bound for Spain, where they have always known what we were missing. It is a slim, pale, left-eyed flatfish off the deeper sandy grounds, with thin white fillets that taste clean and faintly nutty, and it costs a fraction of what plaice or Dover sole will set you back.
How to spot it
Lay a megrim next to a plaice and the differences line up fast. Megrim is left-eyed, so with the dark side up both eyes sit on the left, the exact mirror of plaice. The body is a plain sandy brown that goes almost see-through at the fringes, and it is longer and narrower than most flatfish, with an oddly big head taking up a good third of its length. No red spots, no fuss. It is built to disappear into the seabed, but in the hand that pale, tapering shape and the left-set eyes are all you need to name it.
Where it lives
Megrim is an offshore fish through and through, lying flat on the clean sandy and muddy bottoms well off the coast. It wants open ground in proper depth, not rock pools or harbour walls, so a shore angler will almost never trip over one. Around Cornwall it works the wider sandy grounds the trawlers know, holding tight to soft seabeds where that drab colouring earns its keep. The fishing comes good in spring, when the grounds settle and the fish feed most reliably.
Catching it
This is delicate work, not a tug of war. Lay a ledger rig flat on the seabed where megrim feeds and tip the hooks with sand eel, prawn or marine worm. A plaice spoon trundled slowly ahead of the bait throws out a bit of flash and can turn a slow day around. Aim for clean sandy ground off the beaches and estuaries, and put your hours in through spring. If you are filleting your own, megrim gives four thin fillets off the frame; a flexible knife and a shallow angle along the backbone lift them cleanly. Take what you need, slip undersized fish back, and keep to the local size limits.
In the kitchen
Those thin fillets cook in a heartbeat, so most cooks ruin a megrim by leaving it in the pan too long. Here the thinness is an asset: cut the fillets into goujons, dust them in seasoned flour and fry them quick and hot until golden, then serve with lemon and a sharp tartare. Or pan-fry the fillets whole for a minute or two a side. It is cheap, fast and a genuine match for flatfish three times its price. Ask for it by name at the fishmonger; at the price, a fresh megrim is hard to argue with.
Related guides and gear
FAQs
Quick fish questions
Short answers for the questions families and coastal readers often ask first.
Is megrim sole good to eat?
Very. Megrim gives thin white fillets with a clean, lightly nutty taste, and it holds up well to a brisk pan-fry in browned butter. It is one of the most underrated flatfish landed in Britain, and far cheaper than plaice or Dover sole.
How do you identify a megrim?
Megrim is left-eyed, so both eyes sit on the left with the dark side up, the mirror image of plaice. Add the long, narrow body, the unusually large head and the plain sandy-brown colour that turns almost translucent at the fringes.
How do you fillet megrim?
Megrim gives four thin fillets, two off each side. Run a flexible knife down the backbone, then work it along the bones at a shallow angle to lift each fillet clean. The frame makes excellent stock, so it is worth keeping.
Is megrim sustainable?
Megrim caught in Cornish and wider South West waters is generally rated a sound choice, and stocks here are in reasonable shape. As with any fish, line-caught or responsibly trawled megrim landed locally is the better buy.
Is megrim the same as Cornish sole?
Yes. Megrim is sold as megrim sole or Cornish sole, and older fishermen still call it whiff. Whatever the label, it is the same fish, Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis.
What is the best bait for megrim?
Tip a ledger rig with sand eel, prawn or marine worm and lay it flat on the clean, sandy ground megrim favour. A plaice spoon trundled slowly ahead of the bait adds a flash of movement that can turn a slow day around.