Google can be your friend, especially if you can find a decent Google Earth picture.
I did have a South Lagoon Nazeing picture, complete with every bar and distances marked.
The time to put the marker float about is about an hour before you leave.
The more you learn the better.
When it comes to bait, many current food source baits are frequently on a nut or vegetable protein base, which I don't think are as good as the meat or fish based base mixes of 10years ago.
Vegetable and nut proteins are not complete proteins in as much as they miss a couple of essential amino acids, where fishmeal, meat meal, or yeast based are rich in all essentials, and as such I think are better baits.