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You've picked a tough time to start fishing a lake. The big question is are you sure you have found the fish? Sounds obvious I know but no point fishing the margins if they are in the middle of the lake. Spots to look for the fish, near snags, tree roots, maybe any rushes, dead or dying weedbeds, possibly natural food beds (bloodworm), which can be found by casting out and dragging a lead along, the grippa leads are good for this as @ouchthathurt mentioned. Over leaf litter is when I pretty much stick exclusively to pop-ups, making sure I have my bait above it, although in silt I try to get my bait to the level the fish are feeding at. That doesn't sound like it makes sense, but carp might not feed on top of the silt, but dig into it, picking up mouthfuls of natural food. On other lakes they might feed on top of the silt, especially if its horrible stinky stuff. Talking of stinky stuff, leaf litter I've heard can make the area more acidic, and put the fish off feeding for a while. On my syndicate lake, the lake is a pretty consistent depth, no drop-offs other than the old stream bed, however there are some softer holes in the silt where carp have dug them out. Imagine the lake is 4feet deep, and then you suddenly drop to 5feet deep. These holes gradually fill back up, but the bottom is softer. Those pop-ups, about the only time that I have a bait off the lake bed, normally I fish close to the lakebed, the counter weight directly below the hook, but in leaf litter I will fish with the weight a thumb or even forefinger length below the hook. Are you able to attract smaller silver fish and get them feeding? Their feeding might actually get the carp investigating. For that a groundbait with very little solid food content, maybe fine ground breadcrumb, liquidised or creamed sweetcorn. Hookbaits, obviously try sweetcorn, maybe maggots or boilies. Boilies: you might find in winter certain flavours work better than others. I used to do very well on Dynamite Green Zing, Solar and Nutrabaits Pineapple and N-butyric pop-ups, along with my own recipe Garlic and Spice ones. The occasional fish in winter on my syndicate comes out on pink pop-ups. I have to keep going back to it, years ago, I did a session between Christmas and New Year. For 2 days I caught on the high attract pop-ups mentioned above (my original garlic spice) then after feeding a few of my normal food bait boilies every day, I started catching on them, ordinary bottom baits. In that week I think I ended up with 10fish, nothing massive, but any fish in freezing winds and temperatures near 2 or 3⁰ Celsius is a good fish. The yellow and green pop-ups on the second lake worked on day trips when we hadn't got a bait established. On those two waters Other pop-ups just didn't cut it! Braid definitely gives a better sense of feel than mono.

If you are worried about soft silt, get a long prodding stick and poke around in the margins. Alternatively, tie on a few foot of light coloured wool on your line and attach a heavy lead and let it sink in and see how much of the wool is discoloured. If it is quite deep, as greeksil says try a PVA bag with a lightish flat lead or a pva mesh stocking of bait on a longish supple braid on a helicopter rig rather than a lead clip. This time of year, it's all about the windows of opportunity that arise when the temperature climbs or a low pressure system comes in. Plot where the sun is shining when it is at it's maximum and aim for that area. This time of year, shows can be pretty rare and if you don't have any previous knowledge to go on, it could be a struggle.

last nights session on an old estate lake

Also get the marker leads with grippers and drag the spot, then reel in smartly, it should pick up leaves and give you some idea.

It's probably the slowest time of year for bites anywhere, maybe dont be too worried about a lack of action. Unless its rammed full of carp! Could just fish solid bags so you know you're presented, or rake a spot. If there is leaf litter it's unlikely the carp are feeding there, as they'd clear a spot off. Look for clear areas instead of casting on the leaf litter.