Quote:

I tried prefiltering through some mesh and it seemed the pollin just broke up smaller and went right through.

How fine of mesh? I do it all the time and never had that problem.
Maybe I've just been lucky.
I clean an area free of as much pollen/particles as I can with my hand and then quickly fill the mesh covered pot. I then remove the pit and fill my water bottles. There's always visible pollen/particles on the mesh, none in the water bottle.