Name/Relations || Range/Sizes || Habitat & Habits ||  Notes

Common Name:  Orangespotted (Orangespot) Sunfish
Other Common Names:  Bream, sunfish, perch, sun perch
Scientific name:  Lepomis humilus
Family:  Centrarchidae (Sunfishes)
Related Species:  Bluegill, Green Sunfish, Pumkinseed, Northern Rock Bass

Sizes:   up to 1.5 lbs, common 2"-6" (1/16lb-1/2lb)
 

Habitat:  Clearer, cool streams, rivers, lakes, ponds,and impoundments of clearer creeks, rivers, and streams. Prefers 65-80 degrees F water.  Often overlaps Bluegill and Northern Rock Bass habitat.

Spawning Habits:  Like other sunfishes:  Spawning begins when the water reaches 65-70 degrees F.  The male digs a dish shaped nest (by the way-a 2" male is old enough to spawn!) in coarse sand or pea-sized gravel in shallow, slower water, usually adjacent to the nest of other males.  He then entices females one at a time to spawn in his nest, and guards the eggs and fry until the fry loose their yolk sacks.

Feeding Habits:  Will often school in shallow backwaters, around structure, and over gravel bars with other sunfishes.  In flowing water it will hover behind structure or overhanging banks and wait for insects to drift by or fall in the river.  Primary spring-fall feeding spots are overhanging bushes and trees with bagworms, or wave-laped overhanging bushes, where the sunfish will wait for a meal to fall into the water.  Can be a very aggressive feeder and will become competitive with other sunfishes.
 

Notes:  As the scientific name says, it is a little sunfish, but it is also very aggressive.  It is a primary forage for catfishes and larger sunfishes including smallmouth and largemouth bass and large Northern Rock Bass (try a 2" crankbait that looks like an orangespot and it will be destroyed by its predators!).  It is commonly caught when using bait for other sunfishes, and will readily take most small flies and small lures, including a #10 bluegill popper (very deadly for these guys).