1) Put a 24" tall temporary fence around the pond in the fall to catch the leaves.
Suggested that to my wife right off, as soon as I recognized the issue. She emphasized that putting up any such screen would ruin the aesthetics of the pond (which is very visible from the house, and on the shore of which we spend a fair amount of time) for her, especially putting it up during the year's most beautiful season. See my response to #2 below, besides.
2) Buy a 3-point PTO driven blower for your tractor to blow all the leaves back into the woods when they land on the grass.
Bought a powerful backpack blower instead, as there are areas I can't really get to with our tractor. And I use said blower assiduously. Lots of stuff still manages to blow into the pond, though, and lots of stuff drops in directly as well.
3) Use muck digesting pellets once you have the aeration system in.
Yup, I'm planning on that, too. :^/ Yet another reason why I'm working on the aeration issue.
I appreciate your reply esshup, please don't think that I don't. But I guess what I'm really wondering is, does anyone have any ideas on how to skim the pond's surface more effectively than me working from my small boat with a hand net? Seems to me there's a window of opportunity to get those leaves and pine needles once they've fallen into the water but before they sink to the bottom, but there's just too much water to cover and too much material to pick up using the aforementioned approach.
Gerry
