I have a Vendetta rod 6'6" MH/XF rated to 5/8oz. I was curious if any of you have devised a "finesse" punch rig with a 1/2oz. weight or less. Secondly how do you work the rig and what do you guys like to use? Toss it out into a likely spot and shake it a few times reel it in, rinse and repeat?

Cyclone's Slip-N-Jig starts at 1/4 oz & up to 1 1/2 oz.

All to often anglers try to "buttonhole" techniques to lures or Vice Versa; any piece of plastic will work with as Punch rigs.

Toss it out into a likely spot and shake it a few times reel it in, rinse and repeat?

Yelp that's pretty much it

http://www.bayououtdoors.com/products.php?cat=55

I use a 3/8oz tru-tungsten flippin' weight, a tro-kar tk-130 hook and a green pumpkin blue fleck crazy legs chigger craw.

The problem you may get with the Cylone Slip N Jig is the fact that the weight is so much larger due to being made with lead. If you're only in the 1/2oz size you might be fine, but if you ever bump up, the tungsten weights ar smaller and go through a bit easier.

   "Punching" over here more or less implies forcing your bait into heavy heavy cover, something that simply cannot be done with a 1/2oz weight. 

As for baits, anything works. I like a RI Beaver or a Dichoso Baits Krazy Koura . Both have produced very well for me.

The problem you may get with the Cylone Slip N Jig is the fact that the weight is so much larger due to being made with lead. If you're only in the 1/2oz size you might be fine, but if you ever bump up, the tungsten weights ar smaller and go through a bit easier.

"Punching" over here more or less implies forcing your bait into heavy heavy cover, something that simply cannot be done with a 1/2oz weight.  As for baits, anything works. I like a RI Beaver or a Dichoso Baits Krazy Koura . Both have produced very well for me.

that is the definition of "punching" , putting baits into grass is "flipping" or "pitching" in my books . for punching , i go a minimum of 1 oz. weight , with a Yum Craw Papi or a Berkley chigger craw or the crazy legs version 

Punching in its original form was accomplished in one of two ways because the maximum weight of jigs back then was 3/4 oz.

The first was to flip your jig out onto the matted vegetation and shake your rod tip until the jig broke the surface vegetation allowing the jig to free fall to the bottom.

The second was tossing your lure straight up into the air until it reached max height and the rod was jerked downward "punching" the lure through the matted vegetation.

The advent of heavier Texas weights & jigs made the task easier but "punching" was not impossible to do with out them.

We did catch bass in matted grass prior to tungsten

I purchased some of these late last year and have found them to be superior to everything else I have tried. They aren't cheep but that is ususaly the way it goes with new introductions.

http://www.millerpunchinweight.com/index.html

That's an interesting look

One things I do enjoy about bass fishing is someone will improve on a technique making it highly more effective and that's what tungsten has done to punching. I would like to have a Texas Rig Jig (Slip-N-Jig) made of tungsten.

Where we may want to use a 1/2 oz or smaller weight is on non-surface matted vegetation and like what has already been mentioned on matted vegetation it's not worth the effort.

P.S.: Not to forget but your rod might be a tad bite light for matted vegetation