He unwrapped the dirty towel and wad of blood-stained bog roll wound around his hand, revealing a deep cut across the tips of three fingers.
"F'ing luncheon meat tin," he explained, as I pulled the stuff to sort him out from my rucker. "Me and my mate don't even have a plaster. The bailiff didn't have anything. He said you'd be on here somewhere, so come and find you."
Bearing in mind how easy it is to end up grazed or cut when you're out fishing, it always amazes me how few people carry any kind of first aid kit with them. While even carp anglers ought to carry a few essentials like antiseptic and plasters with them, it's a must if you're a piker.
The stuff above costs less than a tenner and fits in one of those snap-lock plastic boxes you can easily stow in your rucksack. As well as spray-on antiseptic to clean a cut, I also carry antiseptic wipes, waterproof plasters and micropore tape - which is brilliant for raker rash.
As well as the small kit I carry around everywhere with me, I have a bigger box in the car containing plaster strips, dressings and bandages to deal with more serious accidents caused by hooks from lures, burns from stoves and barbed wire fences.
You're going to get cut fingers sooner or later, no matter how long you've been doing it or how good you think you are at handling fish.
Cleaning even minor cuts is vital when you're near water, to guard against infections or even Weil's disease - a nasty virus rats and other animals carry in their urine. A simple first aid kit can give you a lot of protection against both. So it makes sense to carry one.
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