"Dave LaCourse" wrote in message
...

Questions: How difficult would it be to teach someone like Vinny to
tie flies? And, if he is successful at doing so, where could he sell
his creations?

Conventional marketing theory seems helpful.
1 = Production: In some places charitable societies
know about "sheltered workshops" where certain
trades are taught or practised. These might offer
Vinny an environment in which he could thrive
(whether alone or in a group of several tyers.)
2 = Marketing: You would probably get an answer
from at least some of the local fly vendors or
mail-order houses.
Other respondents seemed to agree that, with
time and appropriate teaching, anyone can learn
to produce marketable flies. A friend helped start
a small fly production centre in Ecuador, staffed by
village women who had never seen a trout or a fly,
marketing via Orvis I believe. Canadian federal
prisons used to teach fly tying and marketed the product
-- nicely uniform and pretty but poor models.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)