Thanks to MC-302725 (Spears have less maximum reach than swords in creative mode), in creative mode it’s possible to see the opposite effect: the spear is out of range but the attack indicator appears.
It seems that the attack indicator always responds to the range assigned to the other melee weapons (3 blocks in survival, 5 blocks in creative), while the range of the spears is always 4.5 blocks.
superjey
Thanks to MC-302725 (Spears have less maximum reach than swords in creative mode), in creative mode it’s possible to see the opposite effect: the spear is out of range but the attack indicator appears.
It seems that the attack indicator always responds to the range assigned to the other melee weapons (3 blocks in survival, 5 blocks in creative), while the range of the spears is always 4.5 blocks.