I prefer the simplicity of not using water and just wrapping the water pan in foil for easy clean up.
As previously suggested, I didn't season mine..just ran it empty for a bit with a full load of charcoal to burn any crap out. At that point I reloaded my charcoal, got temp settled, and cooked on it.
The more I cook on my WSM the less I tend to care about specific temp, I focus moreso on a constant temp. For example, if the smoker wants to settle at 275 then I let it do it's thing.
When I start up my WSM, it seems it takes longer to get TBS then it does to settle at a temp.