The weather’s just right for a paddle around the lake. Don’t forget your sunscreen. And by all means, remember your personal flotation device, or PFD.

That’s the best way to make sure your pleasure paddle doesn’t turn into a nightmare.

Things can happen fast out on the water; a spill can mean nothing more than an unexpected but refreshing dip if you go prepared.

According to longtime Hosmer Lake Campground Host Max Peel, the law requires each person in the boat to have a PFD, and kids under 12 must wear them at all times. It’s a real good idea for everyone to wear them all the time.

Peel, 75, has been coming to Hosmer since 1964 and hosting campers there for the past 16 years. He has a fleet of canoes on the lake.

”I don’t rent canoes,” said Peel, lounging in front of the vintage Airstream that he and wife Nila live in all summer long. ”I lend them to people.”

He lends them out for a donation of $10 or more to his church.

Peel knows his way around the lake as well as canoes.

”The main thing to remember is to keep your center of gravity as low as possible,” Peel explained. ”And keep the canoe trimmed, as level in the water as you can make it.”

For example, if there are two people in the canoe and both weigh exactly 150 pounds, your boat is probably perfectly trimmed.

If there’s a weight disparity, put the heavier person in the stern, or rear.

And don’t overload the canoe. Putting three people in a canoe ”is like steering a barge.”

”Safety is (just) good common sense,” Peel said. ”Don’t everybody look over the same side at the same time when you see that big brook trout on the bottom. I’ve seen a few of them dump.”

And, Peel added, it’s not a good idea to mix alcohol with boating.

”Wait until you get back to camp,” he said. ”It takes a lot of coordination to catch a fish on dry flies.”

If you do tip the canoe over, hang on to the boat. It will float even when it’s full of water.

Peel is the resident dean of Hosmer Lake. He’s pulled some big Atlantic salmon and brook trout from its depths and made lasting friendships with the lake’s regulars. He’s literally had 100-fish days and others when he couldn’t buy a bite.

”Hosmer is a real special place,” he said. ”We fell in love with it.”

The 160-acre lake contained no fish until the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stocked it with brookies in 1929. The first Atlantic salmon were released in 1958.

Every year, the ODFW captures female salmon from Hosmer, harvests their eggs and ”live spawns” them to renew the fishery.

Peel still loves to fish the fly, but these days he’s selective about the days he gets out on the water.

If the wind’s blowing too hard or a storm’s brewing, he’ll usually wait. It’s summer and he’s got the time.

A retired truck driver who lives in Portland when he’s not in the Central Oregon Cascades, Peel said he’d like to be a bear and hibernate through the winter months.

”I don’t even live until I come here,” he said.

Jim Witty can be reached at 541-617-7828 or jwitty@bendbulletin.com.