2003 Mercury ELPTO won't rev above idle

Hey all looking for a little input on where to start looking first.

Went out on the water and cruised for about 30 minutes and the motor ran great, 3/4 throttle the whole way. I anchored for an hour and a half and when I tried to throttle up to leave, the motor wouldn't rev above a high idle speed. It wouldn't rev high in neutral or forwards, I also tried pumping the bulb and it did not pick up, if anything it sputtered a little bit almost like it was too rich. Oil level and fuel level good, and there is no bogging sensation at all, it just feels like the motor is capped.

It still idles strong and starts up great just almost feels like it is in limp mode, but I have no alarms. Any thoughts?

Is your throttle cable broken?

Got to check out the boat today. The throttle linkage bar is slipping out of the bushing that has the roller for the carb plates. Going to order two new bushings and see if it holds. If not I might try safety wire it in.

Is there something else I’m missing? Pops out near WOT

You apparently have binding somewhere. Get a manual and do a "Link and sync" which sets up the carbs and the linkage to the throttle control. Otherwise you might have a lot of hours on the engine and time to renew the plastic clips.