You're right in that your two existing rods are not really suitable for smaller river fishing.
Given what you've described and the limited budget, I think you need to go with a versatile setup that doesn't exactly suit any specific conditions but will work acceptably in many.
I'd suggest an 8.5 foot #5. The 8.5 foot is short enough to work reasonably well on small brooks, but long enough to give you suitable reach-out for medium sized waters. The #5 line has enough heft that it will cast well in a breeze, but light enough to give good presentation on small rivers.
The 8.5 to 9 foot #5 is the universal trout rod that will work almost everywhere in the world where there are trout to be caught. Not always the best choice, but never the worst, you can always make a #5 work. In your case I'd stick to the 8.5 foot length, I think it gives you a little more small stream flexibility and you don't sacrifice much because long casts are seldom necessary and are often a bad idea in small/med river fishing.
Keep in mind, on overgrown streams you can usually find a way to side-arm or roll cast if overhead casting isn't possible. Obviously, this is where a sub 7.5 foot rod really comes into its own, but now we're getting into specialist tools and their corresponding lack in versatility.
It isn't necessary or desirable to get a hyper-fast action in a river rod. Middle to middle tip actions, for a variety of reasons, are better choices for river fishing.
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