You do have to unbolt the pump and probably loosen at least one of the hose clamps so you can twist it towards you. Then unscrew 6 or 8 (forget which) little screws and remove the plate.

I tried one of those Speedseal plates with the big bolts that can be turned by hand. It was sort of possible to get the cover off without removing the pump but it took forever fiddling around between the front of the engine and the pump. The big problem was removing the impeller from the blind backside after the plate was off, just not worth the effort. I went back to the regular Yanny back plate.