I sent this thread to a well know fisheries biologist and here is what she wrote me back...
Hi Jon, It looks like the fish has 3 anal spines and it is definitely deep bodied, this gives us one of 6 species: Too bad there isn't a scale on the photo. Warmouth Orangespotted Sunfish Bluegill Pumpkinseed Green Sunfish Longear Sunfish Fish has a large mouth, reaching to the eye & so the list is reduced to: Warmouth Orangespotted Sunfish (but it is not this species because the fish depicted does not have white edge around the ear flap& for many other reasons) Green Sunfish This gives us: Warmouth (has teeth on tongue): has 3 to 5 dark radiating lines going back from the eye (not seen in photo) Green Sunfish (no teeth on tongue) Solely on the photo, I think that the specimen is a Green Sunfish. It would be helpful to check out the teeth Just my 2 cents.