MINNEAPOLIS — Rain poured on Saturday morning in the backwaters of the Minnesota River near Sacred Heart. Teal, mallard and wood duck sightings were spotty on Minnesota’s first day of duck hunting.

But Anthony Thompson, 16, relished his initial outing in a duck blind, and waterfowling gained a new convert.

“Honestly, I could stay out here all day,” the Willmar, Minn., teen said at midmorning Saturday, his camouflage jacket dripping.

Anthony was hosted by Matthew Smith, 32, of Willmar, who joined his brother Harrison, 30, also of Willmar, their dad Will and their yellow Lab, Ada, in sloughs Saturday near their Renville County hunting shack.

The group had two blue-winged teal, a drake wood duck and two drake mallards in their bag when they picked up their decoys and headed to shore to dry off.

Here are other reports from Saturday’s duck opener:

— Bill Marchel of Fort Ripley, Minn., and Ranae Edwards of Horace, N.D., were greeted by a patchwork of clouds and blue skies at dawn, hunting the Mississippi River north of Brainerd. “The wild rice isn’t great this year and the water is low, making for tough getting around, especially anywhere near shore,” Bill said. “We heard quite a bit of shooting early, with some wood ducks and mallards in the air, but almost no teal. The early teal season and Youth Waterfowl Weekend took care of them.” The pair had four wood ducks and a mallard by 9 a.m. The ducks were retrieved by Ranae’s German wirehaired pointer, Fritz.

— Hunting in Stearns County, Brian Myers of St. Cloud, Minn., and two friends reported very little shooting. “There had been some mallards on our lake, but Saturday morning we didn’t see a duck,’’ Brian said. “We had wind and rain. I’d say it was our worst opener in 50 years.”

— Ducks were also scarce on Swan Lake in southern Minnesota’s Nicollet County, where Brian Hoffman of Mankato, Minn., and four buddies hunted from a cabin that has been in Brian’s family since 1969. “We saw fewer than 50 ducks and shot one teal,” Brian said. “It rained pretty good all night, but lightened up a little at shooting time. There was some shooting on the lake, but not much. It’s been getting steadily worse on Swan Lake in recent years.”

— Saturday’s rain missed Jay Weide of St. Louis Park, Minn., who hunted by himself in the Mississippi backwaters in southeast Minnesota. “I don’t typically see mallards in this area until later in the season,” Jay said. “It’s primarily a wood duck area, and I had my limit of three wood ducks in the first 10 minutes of shooting.” The area was busy with hunters on the opener, he said, with many using mud motors or surface-drive outboards to power their duck boats. “I paddled a stealth-type boat to where I hunted,” he said. “The water there is only about a foot deep.”

— Hunting on Marsh Lake in far western Minnesota, Win Mitchell of Northfield, Minn., and his son John suffered through heavy rain in the morning. But they heard a lot of shooting and finished with eight blue-winged teal and four mallards. “We got to our landing at 4:30 Saturday morning, earlier really than we needed to, and the rain was just pouring down,” Win said. “The water is low, and some boat landings on Marsh aren’t very usable. Otherwise, the lake is in pretty good shape after the DNR sprayed it in recent years to kill cattails.”

— Speaking of Marsh Lake, Skip Hoffman of Nicollet, Minn., and a buddy hunted the lake during the early teal season and had good luck, with lots of birds around, he said. A bow hunter, Skip also reports good fawn production in the area, and improved pheasant numbers.

— Todd Finkelson of Ashby, Minn., and his sons Vincent, 24, and Milton, 13, could have skipped the opener, given how hard rain fell when shooting began a half-hour before sunrise. “But it’s the opener, and it’s tradition, so we went,” Todd said. Few birds were in the air, and the three hunters finished with four wood ducks. “I spent part of Friday driving around, scouting, and I saw very few ducks,” he said. “There were quite a few teal in the area earlier in the month, but after the early teal season, they moved out.” Todd has hunted the same spot in Otter Tail County for 34 years.

— Hunting was better in Steele County in southern Minnesota, where Hunter Buth and three friends reported quite a bit of shooting on the state Wildlife Management Area they hunted. “There were quite a few mallards flying around, but they were sky-high and out of range,” Hunter said. “We hunted what was essentially a flooded grass field, with about waist-deep water.” By midmorning, the group had 12 teal and two wood ducks.

— Practicing the time-honored tradition of securing a public-land hunting spot as early as possible on the opener, Chris Kalis of Buffalo, Minn., and his buddies slept in their duck boat on Leech Lake waiting for first light Saturday. “I haven’t seen this many hunters on the lake for about five years,” Chris said. Rain held off until midmorning. “It’s been a good rice year and the rice has stayed thick, which helps,” Chris said. The group saw good numbers of mallards and woodies moving until about 8 a.m., and heard a lot of shooting. “We finished with eight ducks, a mixed bag of mallards and woodies,” he said.

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