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OLIVIER PORTRAT
Olivier Portrat (born 4 April 1966) is an angler, outdoorwriter, photographer & consultant.

Personal Life

Olivier Portrat was born on April 4 in 1966 in the city of Saarbrücken (Germany), son of a French father and a German mother. Olivier has German as well as French nationality. Due to the diplomatic activity of his father (Cultural Attaché, Professor at the University of Salzburg (Austria) & University of Leiden (NL)) he lived from 1968 to 1980 in Salzburg/Austria and from 1980 to 1984 in The Hague (Netherlands). In 1985 Olivier moved to Saarbrücken/Germany, where he did his High School Certificate (Abitur). He studied law at the University of Saarland from 1986 to 1990. From 1989 onwards he was consultant and simultaneous translator for the companies “DIGITEC” & “Monitorjournal”, from 1990 to 1992 he was managing director of the French company “Digiteam France SARL”. 1992 Olivier decided to stop his IT-activities as he decided to make his living with publications around the subject of recreational fishing – his big passion. He has been living from that until now. Olivier is the father of two sons, born in 2001 and 2003.

Since 1989 Olivier has not only been fishing in Europe, but worldwide. Despite being qualified as journalist from his tax-office, Olivier has mainly published his own experience and knowledge, rather than that of other anglers. The fact that he has orientated all his professional life in that direction gives him yearly a huge amount of time to invest in fishing practice. His knowledge is the result of 6 – 8 months yearly of fishing trips & expeditions, that have led him in to 43 countries so far. Accumulating his trips, he has spent over a year on the Nile, in Mongolia and in Patagonia, as well as over 4 years on the Spanish Rio Ebro.

Olivier has financed all this with publications in fishing magazines around the world, his knowledge of different languages simplified that. Mastering different languages also allowed him to make numerous translations & adaptations for different publishers and TV-channels. As co-author he has contributed to many books, but has also published different books as author. Over the years he has participated in numerous film productions, as protagonist, but also as director & producer (TF1, Arte, Bayrischer Rundfunk, RTL, PV-TV and many more). Olivier speaks German, English and French, but is also quite good in other languages like Italian, Spanish or Dutch …

Olivier understood quite early that the only chance of making a living out of his passion was to communicate what he loves in angling through text, photography & film. Nobody worldwide has published as many photos on recreational fishing as Olivier has, his portfolio of book and magazine cover-shots contains over 600 photos. Due to the adventurous character of many of his articles & photos, Olivier has also managed to publish a lot in magazines outside of the world of fishing: hunting magazines, diving magazines, but also National Geographic, Penthouse, FHM, Men’s Health, Süddeutsche Zeitung and many more.

Being out in the wild for 6 – 8 months a year over the past 30 years, Olivier had the opportunity to discover new venues, techniques, baits and to set new standards in fishing results. He was the one who made the famous French Drachkovitch-Rig, a deadbait spinfishing rig developed by the famous French angler Albert Drachkovitch, well known outside of France, setting new standards with overwhelming zander catches in many countries like Spain, Romania and Kazachstan. In fact, Olivier fished for zander almost everywhere these creatures exist, from Morocco over to Spain, France, mid- and eastern Europe to the far east of Kazachstan. Olivier is also the father of modern catfishing in Europe. From 1994 onwards he rediscovered ancient techniques like “Clonking” and associated them to the modern sonars available on the market. The result was the first modern vertical fishing, allowing selective fishing on sight for catfish – even when the water is murky or at nighttime. In addition to that he was also the first to discover that live eels were an exceptional catfish bait, as well as squid. He had the opportunity to make probably the best zander & catfish catches ever, especially in numbers. Between 1996 and 2006 he managed to boat over 5000 zander yearly – only in Spain on the famous Rio Ebro! He also set new standards with his catfish catches, especially after having been the first to find access to the catfish of the Italian Po river. His vertical approach with clonking and sight fishing made all the difference, allowing him to boat over 1250 catfish there in excess of 2 m length. With all the time Olivier has invested yearly in fishing, also all other interesting predators were not left aside – pike, perch or trout in Europe, Peacock Bass, Payaras or huge catfish from the Amazon, or the massive barbel (Barbus esocinus) of Iran, Olivier likes all types of predator-fishing.

While Olivier is fishing at 90% in freshwater, he also loves contact with the predators of the sea. He loves Bluefin (Atlantic Ocean & Mediterranean Sea) and Yellowfin Tuna (Yemen & Oman) fishing, but also enjoys Tarpon & Bonefish in the Caribbean, as well as surface lure angling for Giant Trevally. As far as coldwater sea species are concerned, Olivier’s favourite venue is Iceland, to him the most healthy piece of Ocean we have nowadays on our planet. Olivier has not fished that much for Sailfish & Marlin, as for these fish it is rarely possible to fish on your own, you usually have to hire a big fishing vessel with a crew. Olivier wants to be his own captain, he does not like any form of guiding.

Olivier never approached the recreational fishing in a touristy way, collecting as many venues as possible. Whenever he sees potential in a new venue he will invest in it himself for years and years in order to understand that habitat and its fish. On his trips he has never been guiding, but always fishing for himself, which gives him lots of opportunities to try new approaches, techniques and baits. This is why he invested more time in fish like Taimen (Hucho taimen, the biggest salmonid) or nile perch (Lates niloticus, the biggest freshwater perch) than any other recreational angler, allowing him to harvest captures that have set new standards and that will, due to deteriorating habitats, probably never been equalled again.

Olivier never chases records. He isn’t particularly inclined in investing weeks of fishing for one record fish. To him, catching good quantities of good-sized fish is the pleasure in angling, rather than catching an occasional record fish. Despite that, a 110 kilo catfish was caught on a trip he had organized in 2001, it was at that moment the biggest catfish that had ever been caught by a recreational angler. The venue was the Syr Daria in Kazachstan, where Olivier and his companions were, at that time, the first foreign anglers to try their luck. The same occurred with a huge Nile perch (over 100 kilo) and Taimen (up to 155 cm), but Olivier did not want to make these fish suffer unnecessarily by stressing them in order to be weighed properly for just a record claim. So they were simply released after a few photos.

Due to the Internet, the printed press is suffering hugely and sales numbers of fishing magazines has decreased dramatically. This is where Olivier has been professionally at home for the past decades and he now has to change his form of income. He is now the father of the first patents concerning the bait of the future, an intelligent bait, the “Smartbait”. While until now lures had to be retrieved in order to give some appearance of life, Smartbaits are now able to move on their own. There is no longer any necessity to retrieve the bait, it can be left right where the fish are. And it is “smart”, as its movement can be programmed in order to be not regular, but irregular …

 Olivier Portrat in numbers 

1966 – born in Saarbrücken/Germany

1968 – 1980 he lived in Salzburg/Austria

1980 – 1984 he lived in The Hague/Netherlands

1985 – 2018 is living in in Saarbrücken/Germany

 Bibliography 


 * 1992 – translation of “Classic Salmonflies” from Mikael Frödin and correction of the translation of “La Pêche aux Leurres souples” of Henri Limouzin, both for the swiss publisher Müller- Rüschlikon


 * 1993 – translation & adaption of “Sea Angling” from Trevor Housby and of “La Pêche et ses Techniques” from Henri Limouzin for the swiss publisher Müller-

Rüschlikon


 * 1994 – translation & adaption of “Trolling” from Jan Olsson and “World’s greatest Flyfishing Locations” of Göran Cederberg for the swiss publisher Müller-

Rüschlikon


 * 1997 – translation of “Einfaches Fliegenbinden” from Thomas Wölfle and Rudi Heger from German to French, Éditions du Gué l’Épine


 * 1999 – translation & adaption of “La Pêche” & “Toutes les Techniques de la Pêche ” from Pascal Durantel for the Könemann Verlag and “Les Pêches de la Truite”

for the Heel Verlag


 * 2003 – translation & adaption of “The new Encyclopedia of Fishing” for Dorling- Kindersley
 * 2004 – translation & adaption of “Les Pêches de la truite” from Pascal Durantel for the Heel Verlag


 * 2008 – translation & adaption of “Fishing” from Henry Gilbey for Dorling-Kindersley


 * 1997 – 2001 numerous filmtranslations (documentaries) for the german TV-channel “Seasons”

 Cooperation as author or/and photographer 


 * 1997 – “Raubfische: Erfolgreich Angeln”, Jahr Verlag


 * 1999 – “Specimen Hunting” from Jens Bursell”, Müller Rüschlikon Verlag


 * 2003 - „Das Geheimnis großer Fänge“ from Martin Wehrle, Jahr Top Special Verlag, & „Meervalkorts“ from Lucas van der Geest


 * 2004 – „Modernes Karpfenangeln“ from Wulf Plickat, Kosmos Verlag, & „Sportvissersdroomen“ from Nico de Beur, Tirion Uitgevers


 * 2007 – „Raubfische“, Kosmos Verlag


 * 2008 – „Nile Perch“ from Barrie Rickards & Tim Baily


 * 2009 – „The complete book of giant Catfish” from John Langridge, Medlar Press


 * 2010 – “Meistertipps für Angler” from Henning Stilke, Kosmos Verlag & “Mut pritel Sumec” from Jakub Vagner, Nakladatelvstvi Fraus


 * 2011 – „Auf der Jagd nach dem Wels“ from Stefan Seuss, Kosmos Verlag & „Das fängt man mit der Angel“ from Ben Boden, Kosmos Verlag


 * 2012 – „Sie beißen doch!“ & „Dropshot & Co.“ From Henning Stilke, Kosmos Verlag


 * 2013 – “Worauf beißt welcher Fisch?” from Henning Stilke, Kosmos Verlag


 * 2016 – „Angeln für Ahnungslose“ from Tobias Hoffmann, Kosmos Verlag, & „El Gigante del Ebro“ from John Langridge, Editorial Difácil

 As Author 


 * 1995 – “Angeln in Frankreich”, Jahr Verlag
 * 1998 – „Geheimnisvolle Giganten“, Jahr Verlag
 * 2000 – „Heimliche Räuber“, Jahr Verlag
 * 2010 – „Wilde Wasser, wilde Fische“, Kosmos Verlag

 As Co-author 


 * 2018 – „Angelabenteuer für echte Kerle“, DMAX, Müller-Rüschlikon Verlag

 Films – as protagonist and/or author, director and producer 


 * 1996 – “Der Wels”, Jahr Verlag, Germany
 * 1997 – “Très Chasse, très Pêche”, TF1, France
 * 2000 – „Angeln in Thailand“, Seasons, Germany
 * 2006 – „Rio Ebro“, Seasons, Germany
 * 2008 – “Welt der Wunder”, RTL, Germany
 * 2009 – “Monster im Badesee”, Arte/Bayrischer Rundfunk, Germany/France
 * 2012 – „Thai Tales“, PV-TV, Hungary
 * 2013 – „Amazonia“, PV-TV, Hungary
 * 2015 – “The pristine Waters of Iceland” & “Black Water”, PV-TV, Hungary

 References