Jim Riley
Owner & Head Guide
I am your fully licensed and insured kayak fishing and adventure guide. Lucky for me I grew up in Minnesota with a dad that was an avid hunter and fisherman. He took the time to take me on adventures all over the Midwest and Canada. I became so obsessed with the outdoors that I vowed to one day make my living in the hunting and fishing industry.
I spent my college years living in Wisconsin while attending The University of Wisconsin-Stout. Most weekends were spent hunting and fishing! I met some great hunting and fishing buddies at Stout and between us we had all the gear we needed. After graduation, I entered the corporate world. I found myself taking my clients hunting and fishing! Funny how they became my most loyal customers. After several years of suits and ties, I thought it was now or never. I hung up my suits and headed to Alaska! To me, Alaska is where everything started. I started as a packer on Kodiak Island for the legendary outfitter Dennis Harms. From there I was a deckhand on a halibut and salmon boat. Soon fall called me home and I secured a position managing a hunting operation in Nebraska. I was living my dream! It was after that first season in Nebraska that I got my lucky break! Cabela’s called and offered me a position in their Outdoor Adventures Division. It was hard to believe I was going to get paid to travel the world hunting and fishing. I left Cabela’s after four adventure-packed years. My goal was to get back in the field and guide plus have my own consulting agency. The rest is history. Over twenty years later and I am still doing both.
Although I have traveled all over the world hunting and fishing, my passion for the Northwoods of Minnesota and Wisconsin still burns inside me. With that being said I decided to launch a kayak fishing business so I could share all the splendors Northern Wisconsin’s untapped lakes and rivers have to offer.
My luck didn’t run out after I went to work with Cabela’s. I was so fortunate to have met my loving wife Jane. Jane is one of a kind. She grew up having a cabin on Crab Lake in Presque Isle. Some of her fondest childhood memories came from her time at the cabin. It is just one of many reasons we both decided the Northwoods of Wisconsin was the perfect location to launch my kayak fishing business. Not only do we have the perfect location, in our minds now is the perfect time to launch Northern Wisconsin Kayak Fishing Adventures. Spending quality time in nature is something we could all use a lot more of these days.
My guided fishing adventures begin in May and run through September. In November we migrate to Florida.
Jane Callender Riley
Hello, I am the better half of your world-traveled kayak fishing guide, Jim Riley. A little about me: I served our country for 27 years in the Air Force, taking care of our Airmen, their families and our veterans. I traveled around the world, moving from base to base, spent 7 months on tour in Iraq during Operation Provide Comfort and New Dawn and retired in 2015. During this time I went back to our family cabin in Northern Wisconsin as often as I could. This was an escape from the busy city life; to breathe in the scent of pine trees and campfire smoke while paddling a canoe on a lake of glass. This was my Zen to get my life back into balance and recharge my soul.
My journey of respect, appreciation and love of the outdoors began where I grew up in the beautiful Mississippi River Valley town of Winona, Minnesota. The mighty Mississippi offered plenty of boating and fishing opportunities, and the lakes in the area were havens of endless hours of swimming, soaking up the sun, canoeing and ice skating in the winter months. Additionally, I spent a great part of my childhood summers up at Crab Lake near Presque Isle, Wisconsin. Our cabin is located on a beautiful 9-acre island. Here my love for escaping to nature blossomed. We fished right off the boathouse dock; kayaked; canoed; sailed; swam; read books in hammocks under the canopy of the pines and had endless campfires filled with camp songs, stories, and of course s’mores.
These memories are what have steered Jim and me back to the area to continue our love story of Wisconsin’s Northwoods. I look forward to sharing this kayak fishing journey with you, your family, and friends. If you love the beauty and magic of the Northwoods as much as we do, to include the opportunity to catch some amazing fish, see breathtaking scenery, wildlife, sunrises, and sunsets…come out and kayak fish with us, you won’t regret it!
Piper Cub Riley
I am the mascot for Northern Wisconsin Kayak Fishing a division of Riley’s Outdoor Consulting LLC. Although I love to go out fishing in the kayak, my true love is chasing ducks out of my family’s kayaks! In addition to duck hunting, I love it when my family throws bumpers off of the dock at Crab, Lake. Nothing beats the summer heat like launching 10-15 feet off the dock. When summer is over I not only like to hunt ducks I really enjoy chasing pheasants.
Next September my dad says he will take me grouse hunting. I have only chased a few grouse when I have been out on walks. I can’t wait to retrieve one. My dad says they are one of the finest tasting game birds in the world! I hope he shares a little.
My goal is to spend the entire month of October hunting exciting destinations like Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Kansas. What would really be cool is to float a river in Montana, stopping along the way to fish, and hunt. There is never enough time!
Hope to see you this summer.