I haven't ever been to Spring Creek, but I go to Pine and Little Pine at least once/year. For many, many years, a 9' 5 weight has met all tasks for "bigger water" (like Pine) and an 8'6" 5 weight works for "typical water" (thinking Yellow Breeches, Little Pine, Loyalhanna, etc.). I've only recently started updating those rods (past 3 or 4 years), but I don't consider my new rigs to be groundbreaking tech or anything like that... Just rods built on medium-fast graphite blanks. Instead of going to 10' rods, I've gone smaller... 7-8' 3 weight or 6'6" 2 weight... for water I consider to be "small" like Manada, Indiantown Run, Slate Run, Clarks, etc.