The old school use of 'off the hook' is to "get away withsomething", or "not be responsible for something", i.e., the fish that got away was 'off the hook'.
Off the hook is actually a modernization of a series of slang words. Closely related to off the chain, there refering to something being so "fresh" and "new" that its literallyright off the store shelf. (started in reference to clothes, the hangar being the hook)
A synomym for "busy". Taken from a phone reference; when you leave a phone off the hook, you get a "busy" signal. The phrase is used to convey that there were a lot of people attending a particular event.