In a scene reminiscent of bluefishing in the Northeast, scores of birds dive toward a maelstrom of white water, looking for scraps of baitfish missed by the jaws of predators below. Dozens of 2- to 4-foot, silver-plated fish expose themselves as they join the fray. Armed with 8-pound-test line, three of us cast live sardines just outside the action. Within seconds, a 30-pound tarpon streaks off with the bait and goes aerial in a display best suited for Barnum & Bailey. The other anglers hook up, and we all hoot and laugh as the tripleheader commences.

''Welcome to tarpon fishing in Puerto Rico, my friend,'' says Capt. Omar Orraca of Caribbean Outfitters, still shaking with adrenaline after his fish jumped off boat-side. ''We call this particular episode a frenzy, and it happens all the time in this lagoon.''

As Orraca speaks, I realize the truly special nature of this fishery. My plane had landed at nearby San Juan International Airport at 11 o’clock on this October morning in 2000. Less than two hours later, my line was in the water, fighting against my first tarpon. I look up and see planes sink down to that same runway, which borders the lagoon where we’re fishing. How many places in the world can one jump off a plane at a major city, then expect to catch up to 20 tarpon the rest of the day? Orraca and his friend Capt. Juan Torruella make a living showcasing this urban saltwater playground to the world.

Discovering Silver

Tarpon probably called the bays and lagoons around San Juan home for many years, but Orraca, Torruella and a handful of other anglers have been perfecting techniques to catch these fish over the past seven or eight years. Orraca, a native Puerto Rican, began his career as a mate for a deep-sea charter company in 1990, then started his own inshore business in 1994 after attending Sandy Moret’s Fly Fishing School in the Keys earlier that same year. Attending the course helped set Orraca apart from other Puerto Rican anglers by providing him with invaluable knowledge about tarpon fishing techniques. He says the lagoons’ biggest draw is the number of fish hooked per day.

''You know how the seasons can sometimes be in offshore fishing,'' says Orraca. ''You can have five days without a strike when marlin or other (pelagic) species are migrating through the area in transition. Those situations leave you with little action. But every time I fish the lagoon in the afternoon at the end of my day at work, I find some kind of action. Whether it’s big or little fish, they’re always here.''

Orraca also saw that no guides worked the lagoons, so he decided to explore adding the option of guiding inshore to his offshore charters. ''I did some research and found out that one out of every 10 anglers participates in big-game fishing, while the others prefer light-tackle inshore,'' he says. He also found the most effective methods for catching these tarpon by experimenting with a variety of lures and live bait. Finally, he paid close attention to the nature of the place — what makes the fishery tick — and discovered some significant facts.

''The population of tarpon in the two main lagoons (San Jose and Torrecilla) numbers in the thousands,'' says Orraca. ''The estuary holds an enormous amount of bait. Also, we have a good tidal flow from the ocean, and we have a place where there are no sharks or any other natural threats to the fish, so it creates a big, big nursery. But the main thing is the bait. If the bait stays, so will the tarpon.''

After Orraca started successfully guiding in the lagoons, Torruella decided to join him. A yacht-broker-turned-guide, Torruella purchased an 18-foot Hewes in February 1996 and by March had his biggest tarpon yet — a 160-pounder. Despite the likelihood of catching big fish, the monsters aren’t the main draw to the lagoons, according to Torruella. Although triple-digit tarpon do cruise the shallow estuary in numbers in the fall, the most dependable year-round action is for fish in the 10- to 30-pound range.

''You could have up to 20 bites in an average morning and even get a chance to see them rolling on the surface,'' says Torruella. ''It’s not clear-water fishing (it’s brackish and dark from freshwater runoff), but it is topwater fishing. You see everything that happens around you, and I think that’s the most exciting part.''

The San Jose Lagoon, in particular, holds an abundance of resident silver kings. These fish like to occupy the mile-long, 12- to 22-foot-deep channel that builders of the international airport dug out many years ago for the runway. The tarpon turn on during outgoing tides, when the bait flows out of the estuaries. The lagoon’s shallow water, which averages between 12 and 14 feet deep, doesn’t allow baitfish much room to dive, so pods of tarpon force the bait to the surface where there’s no escape. This is when the famed frenzies occur, and the water erupts into a splashing free-for-all as dozens of ravenous tarpon erupt from below.

Because Orraca and Torruella are the only full-time guides in these lagoons and there’s not much of a recreational fishery, these fish don’t spook easily. A well-placed cast with a live bait or artificial generally results in a hookup. These fish will hit a fly, too. On my second trip to the lagoons, in March of last year, I traveled with Mark Nichols, maker of D.O.A. Lures. He hooked more tarpon on his TerrorEyz lure than the rest of us did on live baits.

Ready for Anything

Orraca and Torruella have enjoyed some stellar days fishing the lagoons, but their best outing occurred while fishing together on a December day in 1999, when they caught and released 47 tarpon. ''We were checking a big cold front, and the pressure was dropping dramatically,'' says Orraca. ''The day before, I had caught 13 tarpon in the morning, so I knew the weather was [positively] affecting the fishing. The next day we wet our baits at 7 a.m. By 9, we already had 17. By noon, we had 30, plus a snook. These fish were up to 60 pounds, with the majority between 20 and 30 pounds — all on 8- to 12-pound line.''

Torruella says the most amazing part of the day was that he and Orraca caught those fish despite having to cast net bait six different times (because it was hard to find). ''We’d get enough bait to survive one frenzy, catch fish till we ran out, then get bait and hit ’em again,'' he says. ''It was unbelievable. We had to leave when the sun went down even though we were still catching fish.''

Bigger tarpon lurk in the lagoons, too. Torruella enjoys fishing for these triple-digit fish with big live mullet. ''I think the most exciting part is when we fish the big ones, just watching and expecting the tarpon to inhale the mullet,'' he says. ''Sometimes the mullet starts doing figure eights on the surface. And sometimes it runs to the boat and the tarpon eats it right there. You think the fish is going to jump into the boat.''

Since San Juan’s tarpon come in all shapes and sizes, Orraca prepares for anything, keeping a full arsenal of tackle on board. If he finds smaller fish, he’ll rig 8-pound Shimano spinning outfits. Even then, he’ll vary the leader and hook sizes. For baby tarpon (under 15 pounds), Orraca likes 30-pound fluorocarbon leader and Owner Mutu Light 3/0 or 4/0 circle hooks fished with a live anchovy. For 15- to 60-pound silver kings, he’ll go with 12-pound line, 40- to 60-pound fluorocarbon leader and a 5/0 circle hook. When 60- to 80-pound fish show up, he uses 16-pound line, 60- to 80-pound fluorocarbon and 6/0 and 7/0 circle hooks. Fish over 80 pounds require 20-pound test, 80- to 100-pound fluorocarbon leader and a 6/0 J-hook with a live mullet.

Artificials prove effective for fooling the snook found along several underwater humps in the lagoons, around mouths of feeder creeks and lining the mangrove-fringed shoreline.

On our March trip, Nichols landed a few nice snook on his root-beer-colored shrimp after an afternoon shower flooded the creeks with fresh water, pushing more snook into the lagoon. These fish revealed their whereabouts as they crashed small live shrimp on the surface. Nichols simply added to the feast by casting his imitations to the splashes and hooking the snook on the bait’s initial descent.

Orraca says snook fishing keeps improving, thanks to anglers who practice catch-and-release and to recent enforcement of the 1988 inshore net ban. ''The results of the net ban have been incredible for us,'' he says. ''This year I have caught the two biggest snook in my career, both in the 20-pound range. Anglers have the opportunity to catch six or eight fish per day, with an average size of 6 to 15 pounds.''

The best months to target linesiders are March and April, according to Orraca. In tandem with the artificials, Orraca likes to throw the ''biggest anchovies we can find'' at snook. Twelve-pound-test spinning or baitcasting outfits with 40-pound fluorocarbon leaders and 5/0 Mutu Light hooks should prove adequate for these battles.

Flinging Flies

Orraca enjoys the thrill of hooking big fish on the fly, and became the first to offer full-time fly charters in San Juan. ''Although the season proves important for the bigger tarpon, there are always opportunities to land fish on flies,'' he says. ''I have guided anglers to several fish between 90 and 100 pounds on fly rods. We normally tease them up with anchovies; then you just need to be able to cast about 60 feet.''

On my March trip, I got to chat and fish with Jose Brillon, one of the island’s most avid and respected recreational fly anglers. Brillon, who has been fly-fishing Puerto Rican waters for 15 years, was recently in Cuba (brought in by the Cuban government) to help the locals develop a new fishery. He targets tarpon in both lagoons around San Juan and also likes to fish Culebra Island on Puerto Rico’s east coast for bonefish and permit. His biggest tarpon to date from the lagoons is a 119-pounder, which he caught on his own custom-made mullet fly in 1998. ''It jumped six or eight times and took me an hour and 15 minutes on an 8-weight,'' he says.

Brillon is thought of as the island’s best-known fly-tier. He’s made flies for more than a decade, many specifically designed for tarpon in the local lagoons. He advises anglers to bring several different flies when traveling to San Juan: ''Bring mullet imitations, the Deceiver in natural colors — green/white, brown/white, gray/white, and all black for murky water. For small fish, we use poppers and Clouser minnows in natural colors. Epoxy flies work well, too.''

Even though the water in the lagoons typically remains dark, Brillon likes to play it safe with fluorocarbon leaders. He prefers a 16-pound Ande butt section with a 12-pound Mason tippet on an 8-weight fly outfit. Hook sizes vary from No. 1 to 5/0, depending on the size of the tarpon. Orraca advises anglers to bring 6- to 10-weight gear, with class tippets up to 16-pound and shock tippets varying from 60- to 80-pound.

As Brillon finishes that statement, Orraca yells from the back of the boat, ''Whoa, frenzy, frenzy, 9 o’clock!'' We quickly go back to fishing. Unfortunately, the fish won’t hit flies this day, so we switch to live bait and quickly jump a few more fish before the afternoon rains run us off.

But that’s just a temporary setback. We can return in a flash. The marina’s only 10 minutes away from the lagoon, most hotels are another five, and the airport is right across the street from the fishing. But perhaps the best thing about San Juan’s lagoons — the fish aren’t going anywhere. Tarpon here don’t seem to mind the rain.