Starting a new water in the winter is never going to be easy . If it's well stocked you may make it work but lots of lakes shut down in the winter with only small windows of opportunity. If you have no experience of the lake these will be hard to find . Having said that lots of lakes have favoured winter areas so watch what the locals are doing it may help you .

In reply to Post #1
Walk it and watch as much as you can without your kit, small bag of bait an a catapult, anything shows put 10 baits on it and mark up the spot for investigation.
Keep going and stay upbeat.

In reply to Post #11
spend the time fishing a peg at a time and truly understanding all the features / subtleties in topography before the weed appears . . .and if you catch one in the process then thats a bonus.

That's exactly what I have been doing for the last few years on limited fishing time........I can't wait to get out in a few weeks and start mapping the swims I haven't fished yet.......