Tell tale woes

Howdy from Texas. I know next to nothing about engine maintenance and am looking for some help. I have a skiff with a 25hp 4 stroke Tohatsu. I run the flats at least 3 times a week. I noticed the other day that I had an almost non existent tell tale stream. I flushed the engine with muffs and it didn’t help. I did the weed eater line thing and it didn’t work either. Then, I shot my garden hose back up the tell tale line. Then everything worked great with a strong stream. Put boat back in water yesterday, drove away from the launch, got on plane and all was good. Brought boat back to my dock. This afternoon, I went out and engine isn’t pissing. So, shot water back up tell tale hose, and it works again. Engine has been running great with or without stream. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Probably some loose junk that plugs it periodically. In the shop, while running in the tank, we blow it out with air.

The tell tale just indicates that the pump is working.-------Motor will cool just fine with a plugged tell tale.--------Weeds / bits of flotsam will plug it up.