Pine takes stain unevenly without a wood conditioner. But, it sounds like all you need is an oil base poly to get a light golden tone.

Yeah, make sure it's oil based--the water based won't go very golden.

Carla in Sac

I would look at a marine spar varnish; much more durable than poly.
Diane

We used repairable Land Ark oil system on our wide pine plank floors. You can sand a spot or just clean it and put some more oil on and it is fixed. They have pigment you add and it goes on with the oil. I think once we picked a color we mixed it 1 part color to 4 parts oil. This is an all natural finish i.e. food safe. All pure ingredients.
Others have used Waterlox and I believe the first coat of it you can add color also so you get an even spread of the color.

We used Waterlox and after two years, they are darkening quite nicley. I would totally recommend it. Plus, we can reapply the finish wothout sanding too deeply. Cannot do that with Poly.