Can someone recommend a good affordable rake to get out unwanted plants? My pond is covered in giant salvinia and I need to try to get it all out. This is a small pond. I'm open to a handheld rake, or even one that attaches to a tractor front end loader or 3 point hitch. Any suggestions?

Look at driveway/gravel rakes. They're called different names, but they're 36" rakes available at most big box stores. Lowes calls them landscape rakes. They're much cheaper than "pond" rakes, and you can add noodles to the back to float it if needed. The only issue with them is that some have teeth on the tips, and that may make clearing the rake of weeds difficult. I just cut those off of mine.

Giant Salvinia? Let the plants dry out on the shore, then burn them if possible. If burning is dangerous in your area, then just make sure you dispose of it as far from standing water as you can.

Yes, it's completely covered in giant salvinia. I'm going to drain it and clean out the muck eventually but want to try and get the salvinia out first. I also saw on here a guy that made a rope and skimmed trash and plant off the top of the water. I may try that route too.

I have used what is called a "landscape rake". It is about 5' wide. I either zip-tie on pool noodles to float it, or nothing to sink it. The trick is the toss and how to get a good rope tie-off and lay of rope on the ground each time. The other problem is sizing the rope to deal with the load if you need to remove many weeds at a time.

Well, screw the rake idea. Even though the pond is small it would still take forever. I'm just gonna rent a trash pump and get as much water out as possible then figure out what to do.