Shift problems Fwd only gear

I was on the lake today everything running normal with the 1991 40 HP evinrude.
After 2 hrs on the water I Placed the troddle handle in The start position.
Started motor shifted to reverse and the boat went forward,Shifted to foward thinking I was wrong, boat went forward,shut off the motor then shifted to the nuteral start position started boat and went forward, I can also start the motor in forward gear and in the reverse gear (which goes forward) and this is not suppose to start in FWD or Rev. Any one have any ideas as to start looking for the problem??

This sounds very odd......Did you take the cowling off to make sure the shift linkage was still in tact. Sounds like your stuck in forward but your shift lever still moves back and fourth. But I believe there is a neutral safety switch that would prevent you from being able to start in gear.......strange.

I did take off the cover and all linkage appears to be working correctly and yes it is stuck in fwd There is a neutral safety switch and prior to this it would not start except in N I thought about taking the troddle control unit apart but not sure of the complications that might come forth.

I did the same excact thing 2 weeks ago and it ended up I had broke a pin in the clutch dog in the lower unit and the pin ended up wedging in the pinion gear and broke a couple of teeth off and cost me a new lower unit. DO NOT run it until you get it checked out and hopefully you will luck out and be something simple. Good luck