A garden hose and a drain bladder usually do the trick.

Don’t call a plumber yet. Most skimmer line clogs are leaves or debris stuck in the pipe, and you can clear them with a few bucks of hardware.

Shut off the pump. Stick a drain bladder (also called a “drain king”) into the skimmer opening, attach a garden hose, and turn the water on. The expanding rubber seals the pipe, and the jet of water pushes the clog back toward the pool. If that doesn’t work, try the same trick from the pump end with a hose adapter.

If the clog is really stubborn (or it’s a thick root), you’ll need a plumbing snake or a shop vac on reverse to blow it out. But 80% of the time, the hose-and-bladder method clears it in five minutes.

Future You will thank Future You for not panic-calling a pool service.