I don't know if sputtering is the most accurate description and I am not very handy mechanically. I was driving back to the boat ramp today WOT and trimmed up on the pad. The motor changed it's sound and started to lose some power but not too much (from 65mph down to 55mph) and it was making some noises it never has before. My trim gauge doesn't work so I just do it by feel, so when I start to lose power I trim back down a little. But I wonder if I had it trimmed up too high and got air in the system somehow. I pulled in to the no wake zone to idle to the ramp and it still sputtered. I turned off the engine then it would not restart although it would turn over. I trimmed the motor ALL the way up then put it back down and it restarted again. But still made that noise and allowed me to put it on the trailer, still making that noise.

A few months ago I had the motor thoroughly looked over to inspect everything although I can't remember what was done to it. I remember the compression was good at 125 but that's all I know.

Any thoughts?

check your compression make sure you havnt lost a cylinder .

Thanks, that makes sense. I'll be taking it to my motor guy regardless but I'm just curious what others think.

You can pull the spark plugs and look at them also.

Sounds like loose wiring if it's intermittent. Mechanical issues very seldom come and go. They usually do not fix themselves. Loose wiring would happen on pad with rough water and could self correct with trimming the motor. I'd check all plug wires, wiring plugs (see what I did there? Lol), and major wire connections. Also check fuel condition and filters.