Vacman ....welcome to the forum AND the sickness.
SO many questions and SO many answers. I would tell you this much to start.....make sure you are comfortable operating a boat out on the salt. It is and can be much different than interior lakes when you have to start watching for tides, currents combined with winds etc can make for some treacherous condtions. One of the worst spots "locally" can be the mouth of the Fraser if the conditions are just perfectly
"wrong" for boating. I would tell you this much and a great start would be signing up for a Power Squadron course; it is time AND money very well spent if you plan to be on the ocean quite a bit.
http://www.cps-ecp.ca/pacificmainland/
What type of boat are you running? You want to ensure you have an engine that will troll slow enough or give you that variable in speed from VERY slow to a couple of knots. Quite often you may require a kicker engine to be able to make slight adjustments to your speed when trolling.
Have you purchased downriggers as of yet? For the most part in the local waters you are going to want to have them....they are not mandatory but VERY helpful to get your lure down to where the fish may be. At times you are going to be trolling all up and down the water columm from depths around 200' (tends to be more in the winter for feeder springs) right up to just below the surface and there are tons of things to take into consideration as to the depth you are fishing.
Do you have a fish finder/depth sounder/GPS type device of any kind? This is really a "must have" as well unless you are very good at reading charts and staying true to course.
Rods/Reels; at this point I would go to your local tackle store (not Canadian Tire
) and pick up a basic mooching reel by Shimano or Daiwa and sometimes they will even come in a combo with a rod and reel. Talk to the guys in your local tackle shop as they will get you set up with a rod/reel combination that will be ideally suitable for using with downriggers. The good thing is too......you really don't have to break the bank to get started out.
Techniques.....tackle.......OH wear to start!?!?! Conditions, type of fish, time of year etc have so many variables as to what to use. 'Generally' you are/may going to be using a flasher (but certainly not always) that will hook to your mainline and behind you will have a length of leader that can vary from ~3 feet up to 8ish feet. What you have at the end of that leader can be a myriad of things including all sorts of spoons, hoochies (squid imitation) plugs or a teaser head of some sort with an anchovie or herring in it being the 3 "staples". The need for a flasher and length of your leader will vary on times of the year, what you are using for a bait/lure etc.....as I said....TONS of variables.
To be honest......there is far more to explain that just can't be typed in a single reply. I would HIGHLY suggest spending some time going back through the salt forum and you will find all sorts of info on a WIDE variety of topics related to salmon fishing. Spend some time reading through threads over the past year and you will pick up a lot of valuable info.....keep a pen and paper by your PC and make sure you jot down questions as specific questions are much easier to address than the wide varied topic of "Salmon Fishing in the Salt - 101".
There are some great websites out there to spend time on and a bit of googling may turn up a great deal of info. This site if full of info and you could spend days reading through all sorts of topics on fishin' in the chuck.
http://www.salmonuniversity.com/index.html
As for prawns and crabs.....it's pretty straight forward in getting geared up. You need a trap(s) for each as they are different traps. For both you will need a float with your name and phone number clearly written and visible on it. It is much easier using bait buckets/cages......I use buckets for prawns to hold the pellets in and cages for crabs as I generally use chicken/turkey backs or fish carcasses (hali remains work great
). For crabs......you will likely want to have anywhere from 80'-120' of line depending on the depths you are going to be targetting them. Remember to take into account the tides when you are judging the depth you need to be at.
Crabs are usually in waters that are 30 feet to 100 feet being the "norm" but you will find them both shallower and deeper...nothing in the salt chuck is set in stone. Make sure when buying your gear if you don't buy weighted line that you buy a clip on weight for your line, as you don't want any excess floating across the surface of the water. For example, if you drop a trap in 80' of water but have 120' in your set up you are going to want to clip the weight on the line maybe 30' below your float if that makes sense. That way your line hangs straight below your float and doesn't float across the surface causing difficulty for boat traffic.
Prawns are much deeper and we generally target them between 280 and 350 feet of water. One thing that is key when prawning......is make sure you have a friend on the boat who thinks pulling up a light little prawn trap is for sissy's. Fire a couple of beers down his throat and then sit back when the trap needs to be pulled up from 300++ feet down in the water. Proceed to tell him when he starts to tire....that you CAN NOT STOP OR THE PRAWNS WILL SWIM OUT OF THE TRAP!!
This is essentially BS but it is funny to piss people off none the less.
As for bottom fish in and around Vancouver.....it's tough to get much in the way of ling cod, snapper, rockfish etc as the bulk of the area is closed with many restricitons on bottom fishing and a lot of Rockfish Conservation Areas where you can not fish for anything.
Take some time and go through the regs as this is likely the most important thing to ensure you know what, where and when you can fish for various species. Make sure you know your species of salmon as you would be surprised how many people "bonk" the wrong species thinking it is something else. I have seen it before with confusion between smaller springs and coho getting mixed up etc. Not too good to run into the fisheries guys when you have made that mistake.
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/index-eng.htm
As I said....go back through threads or use the "search" feature as you will find LOTS of info on gear, lures, rigging, techniques, areas to fish, prawning, crabbing etc etc etc.
Howzat that for a quick "high level" intro?!?!?
If you need to as well.....there are some good people on here who may be willing to head out with you to give you some pointers and help ya get started.