For me, the elk/moose/deer tail on a stimmy seems to be more of a secondary source of floatation rather than a part of the insect its intending to imitate. I have tried a pattern with biots tied front and rear and rubber legs in the thorax, I think it was called a terranasty or something like that? I fished it on the Castle and found that the cutties there seemed to prefer a standard pattern. YMMV, happy tying.