You do have to try to match the hatch (flies in the air around you where your at) so you should get a book and take flies that you know are out during that time of the year in that area. There are some basic flies that if all else fails have a relative fair success rate; the first fly is called a Royal Muff, then a Renegade, Parachute Adams, Skating Spider, and a Humpy. Those flies come in different sizes but you have to at least match the size of the hatch at the time you go in that area. Remember fish ain't stupid.

Here's a little aid if your new to fly fishing is a pretty good thing to have: http://completehatch.com/ just click on the various flies on the left panel and will see how this thing can work for you.

I take a 9 foot rod even though in some circles of fly fishing wisdom, it's too long for small streams, but since I fish in a variety of areas I like the 9ft. Even on small streams I can just let the line out then roll the line out into the water with just a small rod movement and get it out far enough for a small stream and since I do roll it trees aren't issue. Most of time I don't fish small streams anyways, most waterways I end up at are either lakes or rivers. When I lived in California and streams are smaller there I carried a 6 footer but that one is not a camping rod, I took my car into the areas.