Teen "Catches" Wallet While Fishing, Returns it to Owner

A 14-year-old Minnesota teen who loves fishing reeled in a big catch- but it wasn’t a fish. Connor Halsa hooked a wallet containing $2,000 cash. Halsa chose to do the honorable thing and returned the wallet to Jim Denney, an Iowa farmer.

Halsa, a soon to be high school Freshman, was on a summer family fishing trip. Thinking he caught a Walleye, Halsa reeled in his line and was surprised to see a wallet. As he and his family looked over the contents of the wallet, they found $2,000 cash, a business card, and other items. Halsa and his family called the number on the card and tracked down the wallet’s owner.

Denney had been fishing in the same lake as Halsa a year earlier, when he lost the wallet. With the rough water rocking his boat, Dennery figured the motion worked his wallet out and into the water. Denney had no idea his wallet was missing until he went to pay the resort he was staying at.

The million acre lake is roughly 70 miles long and wide, yet somehow Halsa hooked the wallet roughly the size of a deck of cards. I’m no mathematician here, but even I can scarcely guess the millions to one odds of that happening.

After receiving the call, Denney made the trip from Iowa to Minnesota, and met the Halsa family. He tried giving Halsa a reward for returning the wallet and money, yet Halsa refused. As a sign of his gratitude, Denney gifted Halsa with a customized cooler. He also gave a heartwarming compliment to the young man, claiming he’d take him as a grandson any day. Halsa chose to be an honorable, stand up kind of guy, not a choice that comes easy. Denney treated the whole Halsa family to dinner as a thank you.

This story has my pick for “feel good story of the year.”