Day in and day out, what retrieve seems to work best? Of course I have to let the fish tell me, but overall a rip/pause has been best for me, but I've caught them just reeling it, and on long sweeps of the rod.

Twitch pause repeat. Twitch pause repeat. Twitch pause repeat.

1-4 twitches at a time, moving about a foot each twitch, interspersed with pauses of a few seconds. Typically faster than a popper, but you can fish it as slow as a popper also. 

Pretty much a popper retrieve, pop pop, let it sit, pop pop, etc, etc. Sometimes I'll reel it back in when I feel like I've been retrieving it regularly for a while.

Depends on the day, rarely keep it consistent even on each cast unless a pattern develops in the bite then will stick with what worked.

The major variable is how long of a pause you use in whichever cadence your using.

The more wave action, the longer the distance I rip it. If it's a calm day and I still want to use a prop bait, I'll work it like a popper with two or three short pops and a longer pause.