Franc White, the fellow who hosted a syndicated show called “The Southern Sportsman,” used to say at the end of each program, “Take a kid fishing.” And that’s just what Jeffrey Weeks’s father did, instilling in his son a lifelong love of the sport.

“My dad, Dr. Donnie Weeks (retiring assistant superintendent for Moore County Schools) often took me fishing at the coast when I was growing up,” says Weeks, who was born in Georgia, but grew up in Fayetteville. “His best friend Jimmy owned a boat and we would take day trips down to Southport to catch spots and croakers.”

Weeks, now a teacher at North Moore High School, eventually parlayed his knowledge of fishing into a website that is used to dispense information to anglers who may not have fished the North Carolina coast or rivers before.

Weeks prefers surf fishing to fishing from a boat because of the convenience and cost.

“I can arrive at the beach and be fishing in less than 15 minutes,” he says. “It’s a lot cheaper than fishing from a boat, too.”

An Internet fishing page offered him his first opportunity to write about the subject.

“I started writing about fishing on the web a few years ago, mainly posting reports and advice at a North Carolina fishing page run by a couple of guys named Jonathan and Dr. Bogus,” he says. “I began to get so many e-mails and inquiries from people about saltwater fishing that I decided to start my own website.”

After seeing the number of questions that came to his website, Weeks realized the need for a book of tips and techniques to fulfill the needs of vacationing or weekend anglers.

“I wrote ‘Surf and Inshore Saltwater Fishing’ (published last year) to answer all of those frequently asked questions that novice or leisure fishermen have about Carolina saltwater fishing in its simplest and easiest form,” he says. “I wanted to pass on the things I have learned in 25 years of fishing.”

He had the printer run about 225 copies of the book for the first printing and mailed out some information to a few newspapers and tackle shops as well as posting it on his own web page.

“They sold so quick that I had to have more printed,” he says.

Recipes were included in the book, along with a profile of each fish and the best way to catch that particular type.

“A lot of people seemed to like the recipes,” says Weeks, “and that led me to publish my second book, ‘The Fisherman’s Wife,’ earlier this year.”

Both Weeks and his wife, Stephanie, cook, but he usually does the fish.

“I’ve been collecting cookbooks and recipes for years,” he says, “finding many of them in thrift stores or at yard sales.”

In addition to his own experiments in the kitchen, he has received many recipes from people via the Internet.

Weeks, a 1992 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro began his teaching career at Union Pines, teaching there for four years before leaving to work on a Greensboro newspaper for a year.

“I came to North Moore four years ago where I’ve taught English and journalism while serving as the sponsor for the student newspaper,” he says. “I love teaching at North Moore and my kids have been very supportive of my publishing ventures.”

One of Weeks’ primary functions has been to help the school raise its performance on the North Carolina Writing Test.

“I have worked with Rita Booth, another English teacher and we feel we have been very successful in working with the students on their ability to analyze literature and write about it successfully,” he says. “North Moore 10th graders now post some of the highest writing test scores in the county.”

Weeks enjoys his job and has no plans to stop teaching even though he is a published writer.

“I love teaching and can’t imagine not doing it,” he says. “I probably wouldn’t havae written a book in the first place if I hadn’t been teaching English all these years.”

Weeks is currently working on a larger surf fishing book which will include information on every surf fishing state.

“I will include tactics and tips I’ve learned from some of the fishing experts I have met while promoting my books,” he says.

Weeks does most of his fishing now at Sunset Beach where his wife’s parents, Sam and Elaine Wright, live.

“The old Sunset Beach pontoon bridge is probably my favorite spot in the world,” he says. “I catch a lot of big fish there, especially speckled trout, red drum and flounder.”