ok, lets start with water clarity, after a south to south easterly the water on the east coast is usually very murky in colour, opposite to 40footer's advice unless your plugging or fishing for sight predators such as plaice, gurnard etc this is a good thing. its a sign that the sea has been disturbed, and as a result there is plenty of dislodged of food for the fish the feed on. these kind of conditions work especially well for cod, coalies, flounder etc but you still have to pay attention to the tides. i fished a comp on the weekend in wexford, the sea was chocolate brown in colour and even on a dropping tide which tends to kill those venues the fishing was very good.
octopi are resident in ireland so dont worry if you see one january. water temperature is not the only contributer cod run or . what also drives the migrating cod to our shores, is the shortning of days, as the nights get earlier. there is plenty of small codling and coalies about so maybe your just not fishing the right mark. then again greystones hasnt fished well for cod in some years???
noticed last night the water was fairly mucky alright .Maby thats why the fishing wasent so good eyes 
has anyone noticed its still well up for this time of year 
and as for the small octupus getting washed up on the beach