I think a boat would be fine for them to use, but it would go down like this:

Tell them to bring whatever tackle they want to use and rods/reels

Don't tell them where they are going just load them up in a bus or plane and take to a lake that never has big tourneys on it.

They fish for three days with no info or prefish time and see who wins.

Then you can see who is the man and who isn't.