{"id":5097,"date":"2023-09-02T07:08:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T07:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/?p=5097"},"modified":"2023-09-02T07:08:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T07:08:46","slug":"minnesota-boy-reels-in-wallet-filled-with-2000-cash-while-fishing-and-returns-it-to-iowa-farmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/02\/minnesota-boy-reels-in-wallet-filled-with-2000-cash-while-fishing-and-returns-it-to-iowa-farmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota boy reels in wallet filled with $2,000 cash while fishing and returns it to Iowa farmer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
<\/a> close<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\"Fox<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture> Video<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Fox News Flash top headlines for August 29<\/a><\/h4>\n

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A Minnesota teen reeled in a catch worth thousands while on a fishing trip<\/a> this summer \u2014 but he couldn’t fry this one up for dinner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Instead, he hooked a treasure that had been on the bottom of the lake for a whole year. He made a lifelong friend, too.<\/p>\n

“I was shocked,” Connor Halsa of Moorehead, Minnesota, told Fox News Digital about the surprise he found on the end of his line while fishing with his extended family on Lake of the Woods over the July 4th weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

KANSAS MAN REELS IN BIG ONE DURING FISHING TRIP AT LAKE: A STOLEN JEEP FROM 1990<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“We were doing some walleye fishing and then going out to an island on Lake of the Woods,” Halsa said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“It was pretty windy.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Halsa<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Connor Halsa (2nd from left) was fishing on Lake of the Woods in July when he reeled in the unexpected. He’s pictured with his dad Dave Halsa (far left), Jim Denney (center), his sister Olivia Halsa and his mom Melissa Halsa.<\/span> (Jim and Karen Denney)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Halsa said he had been fishing for about an hour without catching anything.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“I felt something on my line and I reeled it up,” he said. “I thought it was going to be a really big walleye<\/a> \u2014 bigger than what we usually catch up there, by the way it felt.”<\/p>\n

As he reeled it in, he said his cousin Brandon got a net ready to help him bring in the fish.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

MICHIGAN WOMAN RETURNS $15,000 IN CASH SHE FOUND WHILE WALKING TO WORK<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“But when my cousin pulled it out of the water with the net, I was really confused,” Halsa said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Everyone started going through it to try to find the dude it belonged to.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Connor Halsa<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“At first I thought it could have been a fish, I guess, because it was brown and slimy.”<\/p>\n

But on the hook instead was an old brown billfold, covered in moss and muck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

AFTER ‘LONG SHOT’ ATTEMPT TO FIND LOST RING, WOMAN OVERWHELMED BY ‘KINDNESS OF STRANGERS’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The family gathered around<\/a> to inspect the catch and everyone on the boat was abuzz.<\/p>\n

“Everyone started going through it to try to find the dude it belonged to,” Halsa said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"cash<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Teen Connor Halsa found $2,000 in the wallet that he recovered from the bottom of a Minnesota lake.<\/span> (Melissa Halsa)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“When we kind of got a general idea of what was inside, we put it in the console of the boat so it didn’t get blown out.”<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Inside the billfold was a driver\u2019s license, a few credit cards \u2014 and $2,000 cash.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DIAMOND RING WORTH $40,000 IS FOUND ON A FLORIDA BEACH \u2014 AND RETURNED TO OWNER JUST MILES AWAY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Halsa said he and his family immediately knew they wanted to find the owner.<\/a><\/p>\n

“It wasn\u2019t my money,” Halsa said.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Fishing<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Connor Halsa of Minnesota was out fishing with some of his extended family when he reeled in the billfold.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

There was also an ID,<\/a> but there was no phone number for him to use to reach the wallet\u2019s owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

There was, however, a lone business card from a cattle rancher in Wisconsin named Sherry \u2014 who would eventually connect Conner Halsa with someone who lived more than 500 miles away from Moorhead.<\/p>\n

Pocket was empty<\/h2>\n

In July 2022, Jim Denney, 75, and his wife Karen of Mount Ayr, Iowa, and some friends took a fishing trip to Lake of the Woods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

SOUTH CAROLINA TEEN FISHES FOR CATFISH FOR THE FIRST TIME, REELS IN ‘EXTREMELY RARE’ FIND<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

On the last night of the trip, Denney said he went to pay his bill, but his pocket was empty.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Jim<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Jim Denney had gotten back to shore after a fishing trip with friends when he discovered his wallet was missing.<\/span> (Jim and Karen Denney)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I reached back there and there’s no billfold,” Denny told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was devastated. I just didn’t know what the heck to do. There I was, broke. So, the other guys floated me the money to pay up.”<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

TEENAGER BEFRIENDS ARKANSAS GRANDMOTHER WHO LOST WALLET AFTER TRACKING HER DOWN, RETURNING IT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The group had been out on the water all day and that\u2019s when Denney said he had “a sunken feeling.”<\/p>\n

“The water was just rougher than the dickens that day and flopping the boat around,” Denney said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"wallet<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Denney reached for the wallet in his back pocket, such as the one shown above, when he discovered it was no longer there.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“I wear bib overalls and it was in the back pocket pretty deep anyway. I had never lost anything out of my pocket, but I was leaning against the edge of that boat. I reckon it just worked up out of there and when I was fishing it went and fell in the water.”<\/p>\n

The fishermen<\/a> went back down to the boat dock to look for Denney\u2019s billfold, but they found nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

AHEAD OF CHRISTMAS, HOME DEPOT EMPLOYEES TRACK DOWN CUSTOMER WHO DROPPED $700 CASH: ‘POSITIVITY AND KINDNESS’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“That’s a million-acre lake,” Denney said. “And you can’t see from shore to shore, it’s so wide. They said it’s 70-something miles long and 70-something mile wide.”<\/p>\n

Denney said he accepted that his billfold \u2014 and his money \u2014 were somewhere at the bottom of the lake, which has an average depth of 27 feet but in some areas is more than 200 feet deep.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Jim<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Denney recalled the waters being very rough and aggressively rocking the boat around on the day they went out fishing on the boat.<\/span> (Jim and Karen Denney)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But on July 2, 2023, Denney was sitting in a Walmart parking lot<\/a> when he got a call from a rancher he had hauled cattle for \u2014 and she wanted to know if he had been on any fishing trips recently.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“I told her I went fishing in Minnesota last year,” Denney said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“And I lost my billfold,” he said he told her.<\/p>\n

NORTH CAROLINA ANGLERS GO SWORDFISHING, INSTEAD CATCH RARE SPECIES: ‘PREHISTORIC, ALMOST’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

She replied, “Well, that’s kind of what this is pertaining to.”<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

After that, Denney got a call from Connor Halsa’s aunt, Christie Klipping, who said that her nephew “caught” Denny’s wallet from the bottom of the Lake of the Woods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"spinning<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

After recovering the wallet while fishing, Conor Halsa was determined to find the owner of the wallet and return it to him.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

He couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“I said, \u2018That\u2019s impossible,'” Denney recalled, reflecting that it was nearly a year that his wallet must’ve been underwater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“And she said she was wanting to know how they could send it back to me.”<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Denney said Klipping told her his billfold was “a terrible mess” and that it had “a lot of money in it.”<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

WWII ID CARD REUNITED WITH VETERAN\u2019S DAUGHTER AFTER IT WAS LOST AT \u2018TOP GUN: MAVERICK\u2019 MOVIE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“I said, \u2018Yeah, I know,'” Denney replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I told the lady, \u2018You guys keep the money. That money\u2019s already been gone.’ And she said, \u2018No, we’re not going to do that. We’re going to send it back to you.’ And they did. They had cleaned it up. That money looked like they had rinsed it off or something. Most of the slime was off anyway.”<\/p>\n

\n

They\u2019re quite the family. I think we\u2019ll stay in touch, no doubt.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jim Denney<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Denney said he was very grateful to “the whole bunch of them.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he couldn\u2019t leave it at that \u2014 and insisted on driving eight hours to Moorhead<\/a> to take the family to dinner.<\/p>\n

“I told them, \u2018I am coming to Minnesota to meet you folks because I’m going to take you out for the biggest supper you ever ate,\u2019” Denney said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

WWII LOVE LETTERS HIDDEN BEHIND WALL IN NEW YORK HOME DELIVERED TO FAMILY 80 YEARS LATER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“She wouldn’t say a lot, but she told me not to bring them anything or any money or nothing like that. \u2018Because we won’t take it,\u2019 she said.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Connor<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Jim Denney gave young Connor Halsa a customized Yeti cooler as a way of showing his appreciation for the young fisherman’s act of kindness.<\/span> (Jim and Karen Denney)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The group decided on dinner at a Texas Roadhouse<\/a> in nearby Fargo, North Dakota, and there, Denney presented Halsa with a special gift to show his appreciation to the young angler.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“A Yeti cooler,” he said. “I took it up to a local printer and they wrapped it with his name and a fish on it. So I took that up to him. And that way he had to take it.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Halsa said he never thought of keeping the money for himself \u2014 and said he would tell others to always look for the rightful owner first, if faced with the same situation.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Denney said the act reminded him that there are still good people in the world.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"minnesota<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Jim Denney and Connor Halsa believe they have become lifelong friends following an amazing recovery.<\/span> (Jim and Karen Denney)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“He is the top of the line,” Denney said. “He said he knew I’d worked hard for my money. He and his dad both made that remark. They wanted to get it back to me.”<\/p>\n

After dinner, the families went back to the campground where Denney and his wife were staying and sat around a campfire for a while longer.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“I told Connor, \u2018I\u2019d like to have seen the expression on your face when you brought it up out of the water and saw all the money,'” said Denney, laughing.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“They\u2019re quite the family. I think we\u2019ll stay in touch, no doubt,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Gretchen Eichenberg is a contributing reporter for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for August 29 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com. A Minnesota teen reeled in a catch worth thousands while on a fishing trip this summer \u2014 but he couldn’t fry this one up for dinner.\u00a0 Instead, he hooked a treasure that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5228,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097\/revisions\/5228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}