I've had seals eat my herring and get hooked up twice, and actually wore one out enough to get my gear, except for the hooks, back. That one I hooked when I used to salmon fish out of a small rowboat. A seal doesn't accellerate as fast as a fish, and this critter that was probably over 200 pounds couldn't get enough steam up against the bend of my rod to break my 20 pound leader without towing my boat around. Took about 20 minutes and that puppy was gasping at the side of the boat and couldn't even dive anymore. I considered doing something nasty to it but as I was sitting in front of about 500 picture windows off of Chambers Creek I just grabbed the lead and broke off the trailing hook. Was a slow day early in the season anyway or I probably would have snapped him off right away. Amazing how they feel just like a big king until they head for the surface and make that first "jump"