Welcome to fly fishing! It's very addictive.
There's a lot to learn, but it comes with time. If you're not too far from Hendersonville, come to a meeting for the Hendersonville Fly Fishing Club - I'm a long time member and we meet on the second Tuesday of every month at 7:00 pm at Steamboat Bill's Restaurant in Hendersonville. The club offers regular outings, a library of flyfishing books, a good presentation every month, and occasional classes. There are lots of very outgoing folks there and the President, Jon Jordan, is always very welcoming to new folks who need some pointers on getting into the sport.
I'd also highly recommend taking a trip downtown to Fly South. It's an awesome fly shop. Call ahead and find out when the owner, Jim Mauries, is going to be in the shop. He's a great source for information about anything you need to know from brook trout in the mountains to tarpon fishing in the Keys. Ronnie Howard at Cumberland Transit's flyshop is a good guy to get to know too.
As far as rods go, it depends a little on what you want to do. Either a 5 wt or a 6 wt is a great choice for a "general purpose" rod. Do you think you will do more bass fishing or more trout and panfish fishing? If you will mostly go after trout and panfish, go with a 5wt. If you will mostly fish for bass, a 6wt may be the better choice. The reason for a 6wt for bass is more for the flies than the fish - a lot of bass flies are big, wind-resistant popping bugs, and the 6wt will give you a little more "oomph" to cast them. For either a 5wt or a 6wt, I definitely recommend starting with a 9 foot rod because it will make it easier to perfect your casting.
Okay - flies. I don't think I can limit it to "three best," but here are a few things you need in your box.
1. Streamers. You will need a couple types of streamers. Streamers imitate small baitfish and are great all-purpose flies for bass, trout, and panfish. Get some wooly buggers in olive and black. I like conehead ones best - they have a little more weight. Sizes #8 and #10. The wooly bugger is a killer fly and will catch just about everything that swims. Also get a few clouser minnows. If I could only fish with one fly for the rest of my life, there's a good chance it would be a clouser. They are deadly. Go with #6 for bass and larger trout, and #10 for trout, crappie, white bass, skipjack, and panfish. You might also want to look for some "superbuggers" at the fly shop. Superbuggers are basically a modified wooly bugger with a different body shape and weighted eyes. In a #6 size, you can crawl them across the bottom like a jig, and they are a super crawfish imitation. Superbuggers just might be the best smallmouth fly in the world.
2. Nymphs for trout and bluegill. Trout spend a lot of time eating insects that are "dead drifting" with the current in a river. Nymphing is a highly effective method of trout fishing. It takes a little time to get the hang of it, because your fly has to drift completely "dead" with the current. If your fly is dragging either faster or slower than the current flow, the trout will usually ignore it. But once you get the drift down it will really pay off. With nymphing, you are usually trying to "match the hatch," meaning you will use a nymph that matches the bugs the trout are eating at the time. But for starters, a few super all-purpose nymphs are a pheasant tail nymph, #14-#16, prince nymph, #14-#16, and a gold-ribbed hare's ear (especially in black), #16-#18. If you fish the Caney Fork, I'd get some sowbugs in #16-#18 too. The general rule of thumb on the Caney is that if you can't figure out what the fish are eating, then they are eating sowbugs.
Most people think of nymphs for trout, but they are extremely effective for bluegill too. Find a good bluegill spot and cast a #12-14 pheasant tail nymph or prince nymph out, let it sink, and slowly strip it back in tiny twitches. You will catch a ton, and it's a great way to get the hang of fly fishing while getting a lot of fish.
3. Topwater flies. For fishing the Harpeth in the summer, you will definitely want an assortment of small poppers. The cicadas ought to be hatching this year too, and some cicada imitations will be good to have. I also like to have some grasshopper imitations in my flybox. Any of these small surface flies will be very effective on bass, bluegill, and rock bass.
Good luck!
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