Let's talk bodies...

[CM_Stewart]

I find myself using wool yarn bodies more and more. My basic yarn is 100% wool, kind of a light "oatmeal" color with some red fibers running through it. Colored with a tan Prismacolor pen (after tying) it makes a surprisingly effective Sawyer's Killer Bug. With a yellow Prismacolor it's a passable Tup's, although adding just a few red mohair fibers makes it better. Green Prismacolor yields a very nice Grouse and Green, and orange Prismacolor makes a good Partridge and Orange. Coloring it with the Prismacolor pen also raises the fibers of the yarn and gives it a buggy "halo" effect. I think the yarn fibers also catch in a trout's teeth, improving my hookup percentage. The Prismacolor isn't waterproof, so it gets a little lighter with use, but where I fish I usually lose a fly in the trees before having to recolor it, (something about a 12' rod where others fish 7 1/2' perhaps) but recoloring it is no harder than coloring it the first time.

[redietz]

I'd have to say straight Pearsall's silk, ribbed with fine gold wire. It's what I seem to catch the most fish on, and I really like the minimalist approach. After that, it would be either pheasant tail or peacock her.

[Roadkill]

I have to say that I am like Klass and enjoy many styles of body depending on what I am imitating or how the fly will be fished. But hands down I love dubbing and have used a blender or a coffee mill to mix and match my own for decades.

I can tell Hans is partial to Argentine Hare of late. Not quite as exotic is my own dyed or natural blend of MIni Lop dubbing that came from years of cleaning the cage of my wife's pet with a dust buster vacuum for many years. It is a great binder to mix with many synthetic yarn skeins that I have collected. Over the years many furriers and yard sales have given me a number of fine additions to the dubbing supply. For certain steelhead flies (some of which are basically giant soft hackles) I enjoy a dubbing of 100% Merino wool courtesy of a local fiber arts yarn shop.

[skunkaroo]

I like mine not too hard with some nice curves... errr... ummm... Oh! You mean fly bodies.

Blended fur (squirrel, muskrat, seal, etc.) is my preference for almost all softies, dries and nymphs. While the naturals are only sometimes fuzzy, the range of colour variations and subtle light effects you can achieve with dubbing and wool are really unmatched. That said, a lot of my trout flies are also tied using thread or smooth synthetics, but fur is so nice and usually so forgiving that I prefer to use it over other materials.

Aaron