All species
UK shore species
Dab
Limanda limanda
BeginnerPopularNightledger
Habitat
Open sand and fine shingle, often in company with plaice.
Season
Peak: Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr
Also possible: Oct · Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May
A small, sandy flatfish of open beaches. They come in numbers, they take a small worm, and they are the fish that rattles a three-hook flapper on a winter or spring day.
- Right-eyed
- Eyed side feels like sandpaper
- Lateral line curves distinctly over the pectoral fin
- Pale sandy-brown, sometimes faint spots, never plaice-orange
Mostly 15–25 cm. A 30 cm dab is a good one.
- Colour
- Sandy, sandpaper-rough, curved lateral line.
- Fins
- Long dorsal and anal.
- Mouth
- Small, right-eyed.
Ranked for this species, not as a universal law. Local crab runs and what is actually fresh matter more.
- LugwormThread the worm so the hook is hidden and the tail still moves. A bunch for bigger fish; a single for dabs.Strong target
- RagwormHook once through the head so it wriggles. A whole king rag for bass; a small harbour rag for dabs.Strong target
- MusselSeveral mussels bound into a bunch. They fly off a hook if you do not bind them.Good target
- Peeler crabPeel it, leave the catch-legs if you like, bind it on a Pennel so it survives the cast. Half a crab for wrasse, a whole for a hound.Possible target
- 3-hook flapperThe same idea with a third bait. More fish when they are small and shoaling; more tangles when they are not.Beginner
- 2-hook flapperThe default UK beach rig. Two snoods above a lead, baits off the bottom, easy to tie, easy to fish.Beginner
- 1-up 1-downOne bait on a snood above the lead, one on a flowing trace below. Covers the bottom and a few inches up.Beginner
- Three-hook clipped-downThree short baits held to the leader, released at range. A match-style rig for shoaling small fish when you already clip two cleanly.Advanced
Hooks: 8–4, small.