Is there any way to find out what forage are in waters you are planning on going to for the first time or just lakes and rivers in general?

best bet would be to check online for any info you can find.  I think a lot of lakes have info like that on the states DNR website?  I could be wrong though

Go to your state's DNR website.

If it's a smaller body of water, you have a few options:  In warm weather, go snorkeling. On sunny days, put on your polarized glasses and look around in the shallows. You could also set a little minnow trap the day before you go out fishing.

Finally, get an ultra-light fishing rig and use some tiny hooks, baited with bread... see what kind of small fish you catch.

 

Come on Spring!!

If you want to find structures in your lakes go to google earth and they have a time feature where you can go back in time. Look through each year and most of the time you will find a year where the water levels are low and you can see structures and forage. Sometimes you can see parts of the lake that didn't have water or little water and from there see what you can find or guess what's there.