If you've grown up fishing Breton Sound then you've certainly tried your hand at the infamous Dope Boat to catch a lot of speckled trout! But where is it? How do you get there? What's the best tackle to use and is the wreck still a fishing hot spot worth trying?
Above all, was the Dope Boat actually shot and sunk by the Coast Guard? In this guide I'll share the answers to those questions. Let's get started with describing this tried and true fishing spot.
A Quick Note
I could use your help making this article better. If you have additional information about the Dope Boat that's not already included here (especially pictures) then please let me know in the comments section or by contacting me. Thank you!
What is the "Dope Boat"?
It's an old coastal freighter christened Noorderkroon that found her final resting place in Breton Sound. She breaks the current in that tidal highway and makes a great fishing spot for speckled trout. She was originally sunk in or about 1980 and for years was a renowned fishing hot spot that Louisiana's inshore anglers enjoyed, especially during the summer pattern.
Click to Enlarge The Dope Boat pictured here in circa 1980. Photo courtesy of Tim Ursin Sr.
Unfortunately, she has seriously eroded over the years and nothing (or very little) is left above the surface of the water to indicate her presence. The last I saw, there was a little bit of the boat above the water with a blue jug tied to it, and that was about 2014.
That same year I became heavily interested in sight fishing for redfish, so I stopped venturing into Breton Sound to fish the Dope Boat.
How much remains, and whether or not it is a viable fishing spot anymore, I have no idea. That's why I'm asking for input from Louisiana's inshore anglers. Please use the comments section below if you have more information!
Where is the Dope Boat located?
This question is difficult to answer. When I did fish it, I found the old boat at about 29° 34.585'N 89° 15.849'W
But, last year, when I went on the worst trip to Breton Sound in my life, I searched for the Dope Boat and could not find it. I was using Humminbird side imaging sonar punched out to various distances and frequencies and never picked up anything large enough to indicate a wreck.
Calm seas, no Dope Boat.
As you can imagine, running on plane anywhere in the vicinity of the above coordinates was a puckering experience, so I idled a lot. No dice. I have since done more research and found the following locations from their respective sources:
Tiger Dropping Outdoors Board has the Dope Boat at 29° 34.419'N 89° 15.859'W
The Hull Truth places it at 29° 34.340'N 89° 16.060'W
Louisiana Sportsman marks its location at 29° 34.371'N 89° 16.033'W
This is a discrepancy upwards of 600+ yards! Why is this the case? Well, probably because the Dope Boat shifts around over time, most likely due to hurricanes moving it from one location to another.
Click to Enlarge
If you're trying to find the Dope Boat, then you'd be best off using all of those coordinates, coming off plane at a distance, then idling in while looking for the wreck on sonar, preferably side imaging sonar that allows you to search at a distance to either side of the boat. If it's there, you'll know it when you see it.
I recommend going on a day it's flat calm, and Windfinder is a great way to determine that forecast.
Best Conditions to Fish The Dope Boat
The best time of the year to fish it would be during the summer pattern when speckled trout are spawning in higher salinity water. I'm not saying you can't catch fish during other times of the year, just that summer is when it's in your best interest to try.
Even if it was a productive spot during the rest of the year, you'd have to drive past a litany of other hot spots like Martello Castle to get there.
After that, you will want to make a good wind call, because the Dope Boat is in open water exposed to wind from every direction. There is no lee of the land to hide in during a windy day in Breton Sound. It has to be absolutely flat calm. What I like to see is a Windfinder prediction for light wind and calm seas that agrees with this NOAA Marine Forecast for Breton Sound.
If it is too windy, then you may want to consider fishing a place like East Biloxi Marsh.
Finally, the higher the Mississippi River is, the more caution you need to take for river water that could be spilling into the area. If the Dope Boat is covered in river water then chances are not good that there will be a lot of speckled trout there.
This is especially the case in the wake of The Freshening, where we have Mardi Gras and Neptune Passes spilling additional river water into the area. To counter this, I recommend using MODIS daily satellite imagery to see if river water is covering Breton Sound or not.
Fishing Tackle You Want To Use
My favorite way to begin fishing the Dope Boat would be throw a jig. A 3/8 oz jighead with a Matrix Shad in Ultraviolet would be a good start. I'd tie a half ounce jighead on if the current is strong.
If the current is really ripping, then I'd look hard at fishing a Heavy Drop Shot to get to the bottom with authority.
The Heavy Drop Shot works for fast, deep water like what's at the Dope Boat.
A popping cork could be a good choice if speckled trout are feeding in the upper part of the water column. Please consult this guide to learn how I tie one on to spinning tackle.
Yes, you can use live bait if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but for these 11 reasons I recommend not doing so. Now, switching gears, I'd like to dispel a myth about the M/V Noordkrooner.
No, the Coast Guard didn't shoot the Dope Boat...
I always heard the story that the Coast Guard shot and sank the M/V Noordkrooner in its current location. This is a completely outlandish and stupid story that could only be believed by people who have never been to war or, at a bare minimum, studied it.
Well, I've done both of those, and I am telling you that there is no way the Coast Guard shot and sank the Dope Boat, no more than police are going to shoot someone for jaywalking. Don't be naïve.
First of all, if a boat enters U.S. waters surreptitiously (and the Coast Guard eventually notices), they are going to intercept it way before that thing gets into Breton Sound. That would be like someone walking into your house and using the toilet before you notice and ask them what their deal is.
But they did make it into U.S. waters without drawing suspicion, probably under legal auspices. Which brings me to my second point: the Coast Guard is not going to open fire on a defenseless coastal freighter just because they think drugs are on it. No, they are, more likely than not, going to conduct a VBSS (Visit, Board, Search and Seizure) mission to see what the deal is and take appropriate action.
Firing on the Dope Boat "just because" is a flagrant disregard to escalation of force, which would be a giant misstep of professionalism from an organization like the Coast Guard.
Thirdly, the Coast Guard does indeed possess the armament to sink a coastal freighter, but that armament is not in Louisiana. If it is, I have never seen it and I have fished extensively from Mississippi's Gulf Coast to Slidell to Venice to Vermilion Bay. Nor is it listed on their website.
Fourthly, to take down a boat the size of Noorderkroon, you would need something big. You don't shoot an elephant with .22LR, do you? You could, but that elephant will survive the shot and walk away. Well, weapons that I have seen on Coast Guard boats in Louisiana, ranging from 9mm pistols to M240 belt-fed 7.62mm and (if memory serves me correctly) M2 .50 caliber machineguns aren't big enough to meaningfully damage and subsequently sink something the size of the Dope Boat.
It is very hard to sink boats of that size. You need something big. Consider that the U.S.S Liberty in 1967 was repeatedly rocketed, strafed with cannon and torpedoed and still didn't sink.
Fifthly, the Coast Guard boats capable of taking down a coastal freighter are too big to draft in Breton Sound. At the bare minimum, the National Security Cutter of today drafts over 22ft, and Breton Sound is 10-15 feet deep! That math does not compute. Nobody risked grounding a multi-hundred-million dollar boat to blow up a jazz cabbage jackpot. That is ridiculously stupid.
Last, but not least, I know what a post-gunfight target looks like, and it doesn't look like that clean-as-a-whistle bridge sticking out of the water in the 1980 picture.
So, no, the Coast Guard did not shoot the M/V Noordkroon to sink it.
Then what's the real story behind the Dope Boat?
The Noorderkroon began life when her keel was laid at the Sander Scheepsen Reparatiebedrij shipyard in Delfzijl, Netherlands (have fun pronouncing that) in 1958. Below is a picture of her steaming in British waters sometime afterward.
Click to Enlarge
The "Dope Boat" saw service as a coastal freighter for a while before eventually being used to smuggle a lot of the devil's lettuce into the United States in what I assume was 1980. Here's what I found searching the Internet:
"This case involves a grandiose episode of the smuggling of 150,000 pounds of marijuana into Louisiana from the nation of Colombia. It features a nefarious voyage ending in fire and a sunken ship. The smuggling was accomplished, but the concocted alibi of the smugglers collapsed.
Appellant Gary Sockwell was a member of the five man crew which sailed the M/V Noorderkroon from Colombia to off-shore Louisiana. When it arrived at Breton Sound, Louisiana, within United States territorial waters, the marijuana, except for 149 pounds, was quickly offloaded onto two barges by 30 to 40 persons who showed up with the barges. As a dramatic conclusion to the voyage, the Noorderkroon, its peccant mission at an end, was scuttled and set on fire by the crew. The crew then departed the scene in a smaller boat. Another ship reported the fire. Investigation by government authorities of the ship, resting only partly submerged in shallow waters, revealed the remaining 149 pounds of marijuana.
The entire crew, including appellant, five days later appeared at the King Ranch in Texas where they contacted authorities and told a fabricated story about being hijacked by unknown persons."
That's a far more believable story about the Dope Boat, isn't it? What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
Over To You
If you have any additional pictures of the Dope Boat then please send them to me. I know I've seen them in the past, but am unable to find them today. Any further information is also appreciated!
Tight lines, and thanks for visiting my website!
The last time I was at the Dope Boat was probably 2012 or so. The only thing visible above water was a small section of the bow rail. The first time I fished it was about 1997 or so and the bow rail was intact with the bow mast rising about 10-15′ above the water, with some of the wheel house still visible. The way you found it back then was after the long rocks ended, you went 2 or 3 channel markers farther, then veered to the right about 10-15 degrees, if memory serves me correctly. I remember reading about 1999 or so that the last fugitive from the Dope Boat incident was apprehended either in Spain or Portugal. I also heard stories back in the day about the SBSO burning the Devil’s Lettuce that was confiscated in a field in either Violet or Meraux and quite the crowd supposedly turned out to celebrate in the smoke. I have no idea if there is even an ounce of truth in that, probably as likely as the USCG sinking it with an M2 or M60 LOL. In 1980 there was no M240 yet, I believe the 240 was introduced in 1984 or so.
I caught a LOT of Trout on that wreck, sometimes there would be 15 or more boats all anchored around the wreck. You could see if it was crowded from a long way off. I’ve been on a good bite there, and then that river water would move in with the tide, sometimes it would look just like a rip you would see offshore out of Venice. Instant chocolate milk, time to head for greener pastures.
I bet you could see the fire for miles. Wish I could have seen it. It’s a piece of Louisiana inshore fishing history.
It’s a wild story. I wish they made more Dope Boats to fish lol
Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, that’s the same picture as the cover photo. Thanks for sharing.
That’s great intel and I’m pinning this comment as a result. Thank you so much for sharing!
Hey Capt. Devin,
I visited The Dope Boat many times over the years and have seen it in various positions out of the water. It’s been a while however and this last time on 6/22/25, the boat was completely submerged at least on that days tide. The tide and wind were moving in the opposite direction. You could see the water breaking differently above the boat but it was messy out there. Our Capt., a fishing guide, struck the boat with his trolling motor while setting up to fish, breaking the shaft and prop. So everything you recommended about searching for it is good advice. It is a major, unmarked navigational hazard. We anchored and didn’t get a bite under popping corks with live shrimp and plastic. We should have but did not try the bottom. I have to believe this is still a very productive spot. Y’all be careful out there!
Oh, I can’t upload pictures to here, but here is the Noorderkroon before it became a fishing spot.
https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/big/7/5/2/2648257.jpg?cb=0
Found this on Justia. It came from Columbia, to Breton. They unloaded 150,000 lbs of marihuana (is how they spelled it in the case law) onto two barges, then scuttled (burned) the ship.
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/699/213/231862/
I was working for Kerr McGee in Breton Sound when that happened. Some of the jack up boats and crew boats went over and salvaged what they could including the dope