Ants in outboard water passages

I found that ants had crawled through water outlet hole on my Yamaha 40 and are in the engine enough to block the water flow when I started it up. Is there a way to get them out without causing them to die inside? Am I going to have take off the exhaust cover to cleanthem out? Thanks.

had the same problem on a boat i bought last year that had been sitting for several years. i simply took my blow nozzle for my air compressor and blew through the weep hole. then i hooked up the flush muffs and flushed em out. repeat as necessary. however, if the motor has been sitting for several years a new impeller is advised. you would have to drop the lower unit anyway so you could clean it all out then.