Engine Woes

[whale]

Well, I went out flukin' yesterday and today and ran into an engine problem. Being a relative newbie to owning a boat I am not well versed in outboard diagnosis. Thought I'd get some ideas first before I decide if I need to bring it to a pro.

On the way out yesterday , the motor (Johnson 115 hp) was running fine for about 5 miles. All of a sudden it started bogging down a bit and eventually it was in a sort of permanent bog down. It would run but the tach was up and down. Every once in a while it would catch and start to rev and run OK for a few seconds. Well, I was almost where I wanted to be so we limped there and drifted for fluke. Then, when I went to reposition, it ran fine every time after that. It ran fine all the way home (10 miles) also.

Along the way I had disconnected one of the 2 fuel filters I had inline and thought that the 2 filters was too much and restricting fuel flow. So, I thought everything was fine and headed out again today.

Well, same story, different day. Ran fine for a while then bogged down. After drifting for a while, it ran every time after that and all the way back to the slip.

So, it seems like a fuel flow issue but then it will run fine after sitting for a while. Any chance it is just spark plugs? I realized I didn't change them before this season. Any other ideas? The boat is in a slip so I didn't have a chance to try anything yet. It is also tough to troubleshoot due to the intermittent nature of the issue.

Please help!!