I want to tie some bushy white water flies, and my body idea is of closely clipped spun deer hair.
Now, spinning deer hair is a pain, especially if it is only going to be a body and get mostly trimmed right off. I want to persist with it (or something like it) because of the great "floatability" it has.
I have been wondering about something.... Surely there is an alternative to use here? I am thinking about chenille but it doesn't float as well, and to do a dubbed body I might as well just spin the deer hair; same effort and inconvenience if you know what I mean.
Thinking about peacock herl (also too fragile) and emu but none of these are great "floaters" like deer. Strung CDC is too "shaggy." I'm a bit of a traditionalist: I don't use a lot of synthetics or foam products in my tying, I prefer naturals. If I knew of something though I think I would be tempted here, I cannot think of a natural that will do the same job.
I just need a quick and easy highly "floatable" body with that SPIKY FLY appearance that clipped hair has, and doesn't go soggy like chenille.
Any ideas what would suffice?