This trip wasn’t really meant to happen, as it hadn’t been planned long in advance. But when my best mate Marcello told me he had holidays in August and wanted to go fishing somewhere, I just said: “Let’s go to Los Roques.

From past experiences, I know it can pay off to go fishing in countries marked by political unrest and civil conflict—places the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises against visiting. In such areas, fishing pressure is reduced, and the fishing improves. The fishing here was nothing short of extraordinary, and all advice not to go was nonsense.