1. When trying a new body of water (lake, pond river, etc) and you are deciding where to fish, what do you look for? What structures, depths, or other features do you consider positive? In short, how do you find fish?

2. What structures, depths, or other features do you avoid?

Extra Credit:
What swim find are you most proud of?

1. When trying a new body of water (lake, pond river, etc) and you are deciding where to fish, what do you look for? What structures, depths, or other features do you consider positive? In short, how do you find fish?

Usually I'm looking for bank space and drop offs/ledges or slopes. Amount of weed too because if its too weedy I generally try to avoid it. If I do fish weeds, I generally fish the weed edge

2. What structures, depths, or other features do you avoid?

I personally avoid fishing too close to trees and I hate fishing in snaggy places. I also like to avoid jet skiers and ski boats whenever possible

Extra Credit:
What swim find are you most proud of?

Most proud of the Challenger 7 swim - which is about the only one I've actually gone out and tried to discover

when fishing a new spot, I go without R&R. I try to sit still for a while and just look for fishy activity. if none I'll walk around a bit and look for structure. bird activity is usually something to watch as well. if there are a lot of fish eating birds in the area, chances are theres fish. if it looks good i'll throw a good amount of chum in the margins and come back the next day to see if I can spot any fish.

2- things to avoid. I look for stumps/ limbs in the water and try to avoid those. I also try to avoid area's that have no structure at all.

extra credit. it's hard to find area's in Houston that have not been fished for carp yet by the Houston crew, but we're always on the hunt for carpy ponds, creeks, rivers and ditches. something my mother said long ago. "that boy can catch a fish in a damn toilet if you give em long enough."

Look for fins sticking out of the water.

1/ If given chance I will visit a water several times before fishing it, spending many hours just walking around looking for a good few things. First of course for fish action -- either feeding - or just hanging out. I look for weedbeds, any incoming water sources as possible swims. Once I find a likely spot, I'll often visit the water during 'regular' feeding times -- first light, or early evening - and just sit and watch -- looking for any recurring traits such as regular appearances in one spot, or maybe a distinct patrol route.
On a lot of still waters (especially smaller ones)- with feeding spots in various locations , Carp will very much become creatures of habit and have a daily routine. They will move from place to place, often 'following' the suns path, culminating in them resting up - with full bellies -- often under available shade -- lily/weed beds/overhanging bankside branches/in tulie beds etc for the remainder of the day.
Intercepting them during their 'travels' is often best done by stalking - which is an incredibly exciting way to catch Carp as you are actually casting to visible fish -- almost like fly fishing
When I find a likely 'session' spot -- with clear indications of fish, I spend a while casting a marker float around looking for whatever is out there. Sudden drop offs - or random ridges are often delineation marks for Carp patrol routes, and great places to introduce the 'ambush' tactics.
If these coincide with spotting fish - I'm a happy camper, and if not I check the depth and water temps and do things accordingly. It rarely happens - but once in a while you can locate a clam/mussel bed - that is a 'hotbed' during peak feeding periods.
Snaggy areas are a pain in the butt -- however, if there are no other choices for the Carp to find comfort (weedbeds etc) that's often where you'll find them. Just like a lot of other fish -- they find comfort in having structure around them. If you know this in advance - just be prepared to lose gear - and fish -- BE PREPARED!!
Flat bottomed/featureless waters are often the most difficult to fish, and -- unless you can find any regular feeding patterns, the only way to approach them is with a well thought out baiting campaign.
This applies to most any water - still or not.
2/Learning a water often takes a long time, and many sessions - before a clear picture of where and when to fish emerges.
Every water is different - and avoiding anything isn't really good policy. The saying 'Don't knock it - until you've tried it' is definitely worth following.
More than once in my life - I've considered I had chosen the best swim -- only to get disenchanted by blanking - and after moving on to "less desirable" swims -- done the business
A lot of the logic behind answering these questions definitely lies with years of learning -- both blanking and scoring. Never be negative about blanking -- just be humble enough to admit that the Carp beat you -- and keep working on a remedy
Even my 6 p's fail occasionally -- and, when you've put a lot of effort into making everything go your way -- just find solace in the fact you clearly need to learn more

Extra
Any that I've caught big fish in - that have proven a big challenge. I've had a few that other folks failed on - and finally cracked them. THEN -- they became quadruply difficult!! Worldwide - this is fact, and will only escalate here in TX as more folks fish for bigger fish - and they get educated.
Carp are incredible fish, resilient to extreme conditions others won't survive --- and in many ways, the worst thing you can ever do is underestimate their propensity for being able to totally ruin your day.
They are our Masters --- hence the undying want to catch them out.
Tight Lines Folks.

Read the forums and wait until someone posts up a location...

I generally start with Google Maps, looking for some water that I haven't seen or fished before. Then, like others have mentioned, do a drive by or three and check for fish sign. Whether or not I see them, though, I will generally spend some time on the bank fishing. So alot of my 'exploration' is trial and error.
I haven't gotten serious about 'plumbing' a swim although I have a Smartcast that I use to check water depths, temperature, and indirect bottom constituency.

smartcast > marker float but WAY less euro

After scoping a site a few times at sunrise/sunset I'll usually lightly bait locations that have shown fish and bait the margins with a light colored bait, watching for a while to see what I see. I usually just see turdles.

1. When trying a new body of water (lake, pond river, etc) and you are deciding where to fish, what do you look for? What structures, depths, or other features do you consider positive? In short, how do you find fish?
I like to try to find flats with a constant depth of around 10-20 feet in lakes with some structure nearby (boat docks are always good, also nearby deep water)
in ponds I like weedlines and flats with deep water nearby.
2. What structures, depths, or other features do you avoid?
I don't really like to fish deeper than 30 feet deep. Not sure why. I also like to stay away form BOAT TRAFFIC! kinda hard in marinas and dock areas but you can find it sometimes. In ponds I stay away from areas with lots of snags and also really deep water.

Extra Credit:
What swim find are you most proud of?
I have a lot. for the best is a secrety swim that i'll call swim X. Valley Ranch or AB swim for all around. WRC for flyrod.