Derrick,
Can you add rope or wire handles to your pots so that you can grab them with a hook from outside the pond thus avoiding having to get into cold water? That's what I've done, don't know if it is possible with your set-up though. I just use 2 rakes to use as hooks which allows me to be very accurate as I reposition the pots. I'm hoping to raise my lilies next weekend. The forecast is for a nice week here so it's heading your way! Hope your snow disappears as fast as ours did this year. We had so much it was hard to believe that in a week it was mostly gone.
emm