There are several ways, depending on how friendly the swan is around you or other people.

If the swan will come up to you for food, then you can drop food at your feet. As soon as the swan goes to pick up the food, grab its neck and immediately place your hands over the wings so that he does not hurt you or himself. You will have to be very quick as you will only get one chance. Once the bird knows that you are trying to catch it, it will evade capture and then you will have to go to plan B.

Plan B: Get a couple of people in kayaks and gently herd the swan into an enclosed area in which others can grab the swan once he is herded into a pen or other enclosure. Then, using the same procedure as above, grab its neck and immediately place your hands on the wings. If you can use a net, this will help you capture the swan but you will need to make sure that it does not drown once captured in the net. Capture by hand is the better mode because if the net breaks, you will have an injured or drowned swan.

You may need to get permission to capture a wild bird. If it is a captive swan (can't fly because he was brought to the lake as an adornment) you may not need permission. A better idea may be to place a de-icer in the pond to keep it from freezing which would solve many problems and the swan can stay on the lake without being brought indoors. Especially, if the swan can fly.

If the swan can fly, trying to capture the swan may cause it to fly and then you will have a major problem. A flying swan is going to be almost impossible to capture unless you can get it into an area that it does not have enough room to take-off. Good luck. Please let us know how this works out. The Regal Swan