[pszy22]

Alot of good advice has already been given, I'll add my two cents.

I'd start out with a few generic looking flies. I find most times a fly that looks a little bit like alot of things will out fish a fly that looks exactly like one thing. Granted 2% of the time that exact looking fly will catch fish when nothing else will.

If you plan to buy a dozen flies, don't buy one each of twelve different patterns. Although it logically may make sense to do so, I can guarantee when you find a fly is working, you will lose it and be bummed out the rest of the day. I would suggest you buy 3 or 4 copies of a couple of patterns and learn how to fish them effectively. You may want to vary the size a step or two.

If you are just getting started, I'd concentrate on sizes 12 - 14, maybe a few 10's, maybe a few 16's.

One last piece of general advice, when you are out fishing, don't be afraid to try different presentations, particularly when fishing a generic looking pattern. If you aren't catching fish using a dead drift, try swinging you fly. I very rarely change flies during the course of a day, but I do frequently change the way I present my fly until I figure out what works.