Since I, too, live in the Garden State (our state flower is Poison Ivy, and our state bird is the Greenhead Mosquito), I start working to open my pool mid-April. I use a solar cover which gets full of junk but I hose it off as I'm rolling it up. Some junk gets in the pool but I can get it out quickly. Since I have solar heating, my goal is to be swimming by the first weekend in May. We don't always make it, but by mid May we are always swimming.

Keeping your pool covered isn't a bad idea, but it may be harder to clean the winter's junk out, which I like to do.