Me and my friend always use a long 5' fishing net that extends, we got it at the petstore for 20.00 and it works great, and the pond we fish in is about 5 feet deep too. We also get dirty though lol, we always have sandals on and go right in the water

I know to some people that would be gross lol, but we're country hick girls lol.

Good luck catching the cunning fishies