Landing and Releasing small sharks

I'm new to the saltwater kayak fishing thing, still looking for my first halibut. Last month at ARW I hooked an energetic Leopard Shark that towed me around pretty good for awhile. When I saw him I concluded he wasn't quite up to the 3 foot minimum, so I decided to release him. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite see him fitting in my net.

I ended up cutting the line, but I felt a bit wimpy.  I really wanted to measure him to see if I judged the size correctly. Didn't want to gaff him, to avoid injuring him, but didn't know what else to do in this situation. Should I have grabbed the line and just pulled him up onto the boat? and if he came off, ok? (if so, I should start carrying some gloves) Or should I carry one of those sturgeon nooses? 

Looking for advice from the experts. Thanks. 

If you're comfortable in your kayak you can just grab leopard sharks by the tail, pull them into the yak and try to turn them upside down. They'll calm down fairly quickly when upside down. For leopards you don't need to worry too much about getting bit. They have small teeth. What I usually worry more about is where my hook is when the leopard decides to do a death roll!

Another thing to watch out for is the stink. I've grapped a couple that even orange hand cleaner wouldn't rid me of the stink.  They also have rough skin and if they roll can scrape up your arms, feels like indian burn. Glove would probably be best and a snare might be overkill. IMHO. Teeth are almost nothing, but don't stick a finger in could be painfull. The big um's are a good fight! Go get em!

Know your species and handle them accordingly.
Big teeth, small teeth, no teeth and spines should help you make a wise decision.

Another thing to watch out for is the stink. I've grapped a couple that even orange hand cleaner wouldn't rid me of the stink.  They also have rough skin and if they roll can scrape up your arms, feels like indian burn. Glove would probably be best and a snare might be overkill. IMHO. Teeth are almost nothing, but don't stick a finger in could be painfull. The big um's are a good fight! Go get em!

I second all this, I've had marks on my arms for days after wrestling with them and they all stink but some of them absolutely reek,,,and note that if the shark isn't really tired out, they go crazy when you pull them into your lap, I was given the advice to never net one, which i ignored once, they twist inside the net to the point you can't get'em out.

I'll have to try the upside down thing.

If I'm targeting sharks I use thin wire wide gap worm hooks with the barb smashed flat, it makes it easy to remove, and if you do need to cut the line the hook will rust out quicker.

A 3-4 foot leopard on relatively light gear is a kick,

When I used to target them I used a wire leader with a big heavy hook and one of those hook releasers just hook it to the line pull the leader it inverts the hook and they drop off no need to touch em.

I usually grab them right behind the head, then you can put your leg on it's tail if it wants to thrash.  The teeth on most sharks you'll catch are pretty small.  Sevengill, soupfin, thresher, sixgill, angel and GW sharks have teeth that could do some harm, but all but the sevengill are very rare up here.  Sevengill will actively try to bite you and their mouth snapping shut makes quite a loud *KLOP*.

Non-pelagic sharks have very brief endurance, so it doens't take much to play them out.

I grab them right on the head, especially the leopards and sand sharks.  that way you have good control over them.  for the real big ones or the 6/7 gills just be sure to use a big hook and get it with the pliers, no need to get any closer to those snappers.  same with the bat rays, on shore you can handle them ok but you don't want a ray in your lap, use the pliers or cut the line as last resort.  the hook won't stay there long in the rusty salt-water.