Canyoncreek, our pond is not more than 4' deep at any point so I just waded across. I have also just staked one end of the rope at the shore, walked the other end to the other side on shore and let it down onto the water and started pulling until I'd pulled all the slack out. Then I staked that end at that point and went around to the other end and did the same thing, sort of zig-zagging the line until I reached the other end of the pond.
If you have a good throwing arm and your pond isn't too wide,you could tie a string to the end of the rope and a rock or something to the other end of the string, then throw the rock/thing across the pond and haul the rope across.
