A little over a year ago a police officer from Holland, Michigan called me. He introduced himself as Jon Osborn, and informed me that he was going to write a ‘coffee table book’ about a few ‘classic’ Michigan fly patterns. He was hoping I could help him with some historic information on some of the patterns and tiers.
Mr. Osborn graciously sent me a copy of the finished book. Much to my surprise it is one of the most eloquently written and well illustrated books in my entire collection.
Jon is not a stranger to writing. He is an established author having published in American Angler, the Upland Almanac, Garden and Gun and others. This, his first book, is a truly outstanding testament to both art and literature.
The book takes 16 of Michigan’s most beautiful and classic fly patterns and explores not only the pattern but the history of the fly’s creator. Each of the 16 stories is brought to life with the added watercolors of Joe Van Faasen.
The coffee table “concept for Classic Michigan Flies was hatched like many projects over a couple of beers. After some discussion we had a handful of rough ideas and an excuse to spend even more time talking about fishing. We knew we wanted to combine Joe’s brush and my pen with our shared passion for fly fishing.” The book, Classic Michigan Flies is the culmination of several years’ worth of well researched and well documented literature.
Each of the stories is an in-depth, comprehensive romantic study of a legendary icon and his/her classic masterpiece.
Jon is truly a practitioner of the pen having put together the stories of both the old and new masters of the vice into an extremely interesting, fascinating and colorful format. Each story flows so beautifully, in a very delightful and non-technical manner. Jon and Joe capture the very essence of each fly with their powerful prose and illustrations.
If you are slave to the vice, or a devotee of history you’ll enjoy reading these beautiful stories that might otherwise be lost to annals of time. This is a must read book! Bravo I say! Bravo!
Classic Michigan Flies
16 Legendary PatternsBy: Jon Osborn
Illustrator: Joe Van Faasen
Hardcover, 88 pages, color
Size: 8" X 10"
Stackpole Books
$19.95
ISBN: 978-0-8117-1136-4
See you on the water…..
Tom Deschaine
Originally published Dec 31, 2012 on Fly Anglers Online by Reviewed By Tom Deschaine.