The orangespot is a moderately deep-bodied, slab-sided sunfish with a large mouth that extends to the front of the eye when the mouth is closed. The spiny dorsal fin has 10 spines and is directly connected to the soft part of the fin. Pectoral fins are short and rounded, usually not reaching past the eye when extended in a forward position. The opercular flap is long and black with a whitish margin. The most striking features of the orangespotted sunfish are the vivid red or orange spots on the sides of males and the more subdued brownish-orange spots on females. The sides are olive colored with profuse sprinkling of fine golden and emerald dots. Pelvic and anal fins are fringed in black. Like most sunfish family members, the orangespot is an omnivorous feeder, taking a wide variety of crustaceans and aquatic insects, both adult and larval forms, and on occasion foraging on small fish.

The following was written by Joshua Knuth after a successful orangespotted sunfish hunt -

" Our target body of water was a pond that was formed when a small stream washed away a man made dike many years ago.
This pond is now more of a small shallow lake than a pond.
The lake is filled with vegetation and American lotus.
We found out the lake is prone to winterkills and wasn't considered a Good place to fish.
The idea that the lake is prone to winterkills in one of the main reasons we thought it was worth trying.
We knew from literature that Orangespotted sunfish are able to survive many winterkills due to their low oxygen tolerance.
As soon as we arrived and began to walk the shore we noticed something very odd -
Dozens of tiny fish darting from the waters edge at regular intervals along the shore to slightly deeper water.

highlighted is the zone where orangespotted sunfish will be found 

Upon further examination we noticed small areas right next to shore that were cleared of vegetation and algae.
Soon we noticed a few small fish returning to these spots.
These nests were roughly 6 inches in diameter and were at a depth ranging from 3-8 inches.
The nests were formed over rock and gravel and seemed to have no relationship to larger structure (larger rocks or timber).
They were however surprisingly close to shore, normally within a foot from shore.
The sunfish only seemed to build their nests in areas of sunlight; we found none under trees or in areas of large cover. These areas however were inhabited by spawning green sunfish.

here, the spawning nests of orangespotted sunfish are circled 

We were able to easily catch them on small pieces of worms on a number 12 hook, fished roughly 6-12 inches deep. The fish ranged from 1.5 - 4 inches long with an average size of roughly 3 inches
Of the 2 dozen sunfish caught only one was a female, and that female was caught in slightly deeper water (16 inches) and further from shore (24 inches).

male

female

Later we fished an area of a larger river backwater and found spawning orangespotted sunfish in identical habitat. Again they were first spotted when we saw the small wakes of sunfish darting from shallow water out into slightly deeper water.
Again only in areas of sunlight and only one female was caught. Again the female was caught in slightly deeper water and further from the shore.

If I were to hunt them again I would first look for the following areas:

• Sunlit shoreline.
• Shallow stagnant water.
• Some sort of small rock and gravel bottom along the shore.
• Watch for the fish darting out from the waters edge to slightly deeper water at regular intervals along the shoreline.
• Watch for small clearings or nesting sites from the waters edge to about 15 inches from shore."

all photos on this page submitted by Joshua Knuth