Captain Ted Penrod didn’t come to guiding from a classroom or a career change. He grew up on the water, spent decades building a life around it, and eventually turned that life into a business. Here’s the story behind Penrod & Reel.
Growing Up on the Water
Ted grew up on an inland lake in Warsaw, spending weekends at the family cottage where he still lives today. That early exposure carried through into a lifetime of fishing local rivers and inland lakes, and by his early twenties, he’d expanded onto the Great Lakes, adding the St. Joe River’s salmon and steelhead runs to his experience. Fishing wasn’t a hobby he picked up along the way. It was the constant thread running through where he lived, how he spent his weekends, and eventually how he built his career.
Guiding grew naturally out of that background rather than starting as a deliberate business plan. Ted explained that once he finished school, he realized other people wanted the same access to fishing that he’d had his whole life, and taking them out slowly turned into a full-time pursuit. All these years later, what keeps him at it isn’t just the fishing itself but the relationships that come with it, since clients often turn into long-term friends whose connection to him extends well past any single trip on the water.
Two Boats, Two Different Jobs
Ted runs two very different boats because the St. Joe River and Lake Michigan demand distinct approaches. His river boat is a 24-foot Carolina Skiff, custom-built and fiberglass, with a flat bottom that lets it run in shallow water where a deeper hull couldn’t go. It’s fully enclosed with a heater for winter trips, and in the summer, the doors open up to let in a breeze and some shade, with enough shelter to duck out of a passing rainstorm.
The Lake Michigan boat is a different animal entirely: a 29.9-foot cabin cruiser with a 10.5-foot beam, built as a sport-fishing boat that doubles as a pleasure boat for anchoring up and swimming. According to Ted, the river skiff is one of the larger, more comfortable boats of its kind in the area, giving clients room to relax. The Lake Michigan cruiser, by contrast, runs mid-range for its class, roomy enough for a typical group but not built for the kind of large party crowd you’d find on a 36- to 40-foot cruiser.
A Guide Who Reads the Water and the People on It
Part of what Ted brings to a charter is judgment that only comes from years on the water. He watches radar and weather buoys constantly and will tell a client plainly if a day isn’t worth going out, offering to reschedule rather than risk conditions that can turn dangerous fast on Lake Michigan. That same directness carries over to the fishing itself; some days are about numbers and some days are about the experience, and Ted tells clients to enjoy the day either way rather than measure the trip only by the catch.
He’s especially known for his patience with younger anglers and first-timers on family trips. He’ll hand over the rod, work the reel for kids who can’t crank it in themselves, and stay hands-on until they’ve got the hang of it. Ted said watching a kid land the biggest fish of their life, sometimes shaking or in tears, is one of the biggest reasons he keeps doing this work, since it’s often what turns a one-time trip into a family that comes back every year.
The Full Picture
Between the two boats and the two very different seasons they cover, Ted’s operation is built around matching the right setup to the right water. Summer and early fall mean Eagle Point Harbor and Lake Michigan trolling trips for salmon, trout, and steelhead in open water. Once the weather turns in October, the operation shifts to Berrien Springs and the St. Joe River, where the skiff takes over for hands-on winter fishing through steelhead and walleye season.
That range is part of what sets Penrod & Reel apart from a single-boat, single-season operation. Clients get access to both the technical, physical experience of river fishing and the big-water adventure of Lake Michigan trolling, guided by someone who grew up on this water and never really left it.
Book a Trip with Captain Ted
Whether you’re looking for a hands-on day on the St. Joe River or a big-water Lake Michigan trolling trip, Ted’s two boats and years of experience on both types of water are built to match the trip you want. Reach out to Penrod & Reel to find the right charter for your group.